Minority walks out of Parliament during approval
Passage of E-Levy illegal – Minority leader insists
Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the Majority caucus passed the E-Levy for the good of the country.
According to him, Parliament had to pass the levy to help the country get out of the current economic challenges including the depreciation of the Cedi, myjoyonline.com reports.
“For us, we recognize that it is important to stand with the people, the people may not get it right all the time, but the state remains the state and the Republic remains the Republic, so we have elected not only to stand with the people but much more importantly, much more enduringly, to stand with the Republic.
“I think that given the circumstance of the time, where we are as a nation and given what is happening to the economy, the depreciation of the cedi and the international developments which is triggering an escalation of prices of the local cedi, we need not only to stand with the people of this country but as well, the state to ensure the viability of the Republic,” he told the media.
Parliament on March 29, 2022, passed the E-Levy bill after the Minority caucus in Parliament walked out of the House, saying they will not participate in the passage of the bill.
Before the passage of the bill, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, moved a motion asking the House to approve the Second Reading of the levy whose rate was reviewed from 1.75% to 1.5%.
Meanwhile, the Minority caucus in Parliament has indicated that the passage of the bill was illegal citing the lack of quorum.
According to the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the House did not have the numbers to decide on the passage of the bill for which reason he believes the recent Supreme Court ruling has been violated.
“The house had less than 137 in the chamber. They only proceeded in illegal business,” he said.
Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu