A look at the strange things that happened in parliament before the passage of E-Levy

President Akufo-Addo assents E-Levy into law

Sick MPs flown into Ghana to vote on E-Levy

Sarah Adwoa Safo 'bribed' by Chief of Staff - Ken Agyapong claims

There should be little argument at present on the suggestion that the most successful exploits of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government in parliament have been the successful passage of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) and its eventual assent into law.

Regardless of all the other successes that this government may have chalked since it took office in January 2017, coupled with the hung parliament it has been dealt with in its second term, the E-Levy surely towers over them all and for very good reasons.

Without a doubt, the passage of the E-Levy might also be one of the toughest journeys any bill that has gone through any parliament in Ghana’s history has faced and GhanaWeb brings you all of the whys to that argument.

Let’s begin from the very beginning:

Government to introduce E-Levy

On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, in accordance with constitutional provisions, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, presented the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government to parliament.

Among the number of new things the government hoped to introduce in the year in its ‘Agyenkwa Budget’ was the 1.75% levy on all electronic transactions such as Mobile Money transactions, remittances and other electronic transactions called the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).

“It is becoming clear there exists an enormous potential to increase tax revenues by bringing into the tax bracket, transactions that could be best defined as being undertaken in the informal economy.

"As such government is charging an applicable rate of 1.75% on all electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.

"To safeguard efforts being made to enhance financial inclusion and protect the vulnerable, all transactions that add up to GH¢100 or less per day, which is approximately GH¢3000 per month, will be exempt from this levy,” Ofori-Atta revealed.

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Approval of E-Levy

On Friday, November 26, 2021, parliament scored a historic point when the House rejected a budget statement, the first ever in the country.

This was after the Majority in Parliament, whose motion on the floor of the House was being considered, staged a walkout over an excuse that Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) General Secretary, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Board, was in the House.

When the question was put up by Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, all 137 Minority Members of Parliament voted against the motion, following an earlier vote that dismissed a motion by the Minister of Finance seeking to withhold vote on the budget to allow for more discussions with stakeholders.

However, on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, with the Speaker of Parliament away from the country on medical grounds, the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, presided over the motion again, overturning the earlier ruling.

On this day, the Minority MPs were the ones who staged a walkout but that did not stop the presiding Speaker to order a count of the number of MPs in the house, albeit only majority MPs.

Counting himself for those present, the House numbered 138 members, a number he said satisfies the constitutional requirement for it to pass a vote and thus called for a new vote to overturn the decision on Friday as moved by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.

It was an overwhelming response that got the rejection overturned.



Fisticuffs in Parliament over E-Levy

On Monday, December 20, 2021, during a vote on the controversial bill, which had also received a nationwide rejection, the House was thrown into chaos as Members of Parliament engaged in some fisticuffs.

The vote on the bill was on whether or not the E-Levy should be adopted under a certificate of urgency.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who was presiding over proceedings in the House said he was stepping down to vote, asking his Second Deputy Speaker to take over the chair.

The Minority had earlier contended that per parliament’s Standing Orders, the Speaker of Parliament does not have a casting vote, however, Joe Osei-Owusu indicated that he would still vote.

Just when he was about to step down for the Second Deputy to take over, the Minority took the stage but, in the process, the Minority clashed with them, with members on both sides exchanging blows.

The Adwoa Safo factors

The current Parliament of Ghana is a hung one with 137 MPs on each side and that has always brought up the issues of punctuality and consensus-building but while the Majority side was doing everything possible to get their most touted E-Levy passed, one of its members was rather dragging them back.

The MP for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, was conspicuously absent from parliament, a situation that still exists as she is yet to return to the country.

Reported to be out of the country for personal reasons, the government made several attempts to get her back into the country on especially days that there was going to be an action on the E-Levy in parliament.

Most of the time, these attempts failed but there was one very significant moment when the absence of Sarah Adwoa Safo made even bigger headlines.

On November 30, 2021, when the new vote on the adoption of the 2022 budget was made, it was reported that the MP had returned to the country but it was being reported widely that she might not have actually been the one who came into the chamber.

The issue of impersonation, as leveled by the Minority, was so loud it raised several concerns but the MPs making the allegations never came out with the pieces of evidence they claimed they had against this ‘impersonator.’

GHc120,000 ‘bribe’ saga from Chief of Staff

The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, is said to have made some 'last minute' intervention to get Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome Kwabenya, to go to Parliament on Monday, December 20, 2021, in order to get the government's E-Levy passed before the House took a recess for the Christmas break.

The MP, according to, a mynewsgh.com reportage was so reluctant to appear in parliament due to some personal reasons only known to the MP.

It was later alleged by the MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, that the Chief of Staff had to pay GH¢120,000 as some inducement to the MP before she agreed to come down for the vote.

Sick MPs flown in to vote

There were also claims that some New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs who, at the time of the vote on the E-Levy, were out of the country on medical grounds, were flown into the country at the eleventh hour to help in the government’s strategic agenda in parliament.

The MPs so named are the Assin Central and Ayawaso Central legislators, Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey respectively.

It was around this same time that Sarah Adwoa Safo was also alleged to have been sworn into the country on a chartered flight at the expense of the State.

Breastmilk flown to the US

At the time of the vote on the E-Levy bill, the Member of Parliament for Akuapem North, Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, had just put to birth but she had to leave her week-old baby to come and attend to her parliamentary duties.

“I left my week-old child to support a national assignment, to be part of this government and for the government to be making these major strides and the government to be taking certain important decisions. In every situation that I am in, once I’m alive, I’m hale and I am hearty, I think if my presence is needed to take such a major decision for the government, no matter where I am, I should be able to make myself available,” she explained her reasons.

Dr. Randy Abbey, who is the host of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV alleged too that breastmilk had to be flown to the United States to cater for the bay of the MP as she had to abandon her newly-born baby to take part in the exercise.

“Nana, are you are aware that because of the voting on E-Levy thing, we were flying breast milk?” he claimed.

MPs present marked absent

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, when the E-Levy was finally passed in parliament, it was reported that some eight (8) Members of Parliament on the side of the Minority, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), were marked absent when records would later show that they actually were present.

This eventually became a topical issue in parliament, with the MPs on the Minority side accusing the table office of parliament of deliberately or doing so in connivance with the Majority, intentionally omitting their names from the records when they actually were present.

Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament settled the matter by clarifying that the attendance book of parliament is not binding on anyone and that whether it not MPs sign in it, it doesn’t negate their work or presence or not in the House.

Sick MP brought to parliament on stretcher

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, when parliament was passing the E-Levy, there were suspicions that the Member of Parliament for Ahanta West, Ebenezer Kojo-Kum, who has been reportedly sick for a while, had been conveyed to the House to pass his vote.

This is a claim that was corroborated by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, when the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, sought to know how it was that the sick MP was marked present on the day.

“I saw how Ahanta West MP and Chieftaincy minister, Ebenezer Kojo-Kum was brought to Parliament in an ambulance," the Speaker confirmed on Friday, April 1, 2022.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has signed and assented his signature to the E-Levy, making it law but it is only expected to come into effect in May 2022.