I got cold feet on my position because of the possibility of Assin North MP going to jail – MP
President Akufo-Addo assents E-Levy Bill
Bolgatanga East MP, Dr Dominic Ayine, has disclosed that the decision by the minority to walk out of parliament during the passage of the E-Levey Bill was a suggestion of MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga.
According to Dr Ayine, even though he endorsed the suggestion of the Bawku Central MP (Member of Parliament), his position was that Assin North MP James Gyakye Quayson, who has been barred from holding himself as an MP, be allowed by the leadership of the minority caucus to take part in the vote on the E-Levy Bill.
Dr Ayine, who said this in a JoyNews interview monitored by GhanaWeb on March 30, 2022, indicated that he got cold feet on his position because some party folks said Gyakye Quayson’s vote could later be struck out in court, or he could be imprisoned for contempt of court.
“As far as yesterday was concerned, my position was different; my position was that we should bring in the Assin North MP in the voting … for me, the legal processes so far did not serve as a bar to the member of parliament.
“But I also realised that the NPP could do one thing which I anticipated, which is to object to his participating, go to court and say that his vote is illegal, reference that vote and take it, which meant that we would be short by one member but of course, in terms of the political optics I was willing and pushing for that angle.
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“… until another politico-legal strategy was brought into play by the Hon. Mahama Ayariga and that was a tactical move that we should leave the chamber and deprive the NPP of the numbers needed for quorum, and I endorsed that position because it reflected the true position of the supreme court decision in Justice Abdullai and Attorney general case,” he said.
However, the strategy of the minority caucus appears not to have worked because the bill was passed with only the majority caucus present in parliament.
The minority caucus, led by three MPs, including Mahama Ayariga, Tamale Central MP Haruna Iddrisu and North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has filed a suit at the Supreme Court, asking the court to declare the approval of the e-levy null and void because there was no quorum for the decision to be taken.
Present Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assented to the E-Levy Bill, which has made it a law, despite the pending ruling of the Supreme Court on the case filed by the minority caucus.
