E-levy Bill: MPs trade blows in parliament during voting halting the process
It was chaos again in Parliament on Monday night – similar to what was witnessed at the beginning of the year when Parliament was voting for a new Speaker – during voting on the controversial E-levy bill.
During the voting process – on whether the E-levy bill should be taken under a certificate of urgency in the plenary or not – the minority got incensed over attempts by the presiding Speaker, Joe Osei-Owusu who is also the MP for Bekwai Constituency in the Ashanti Region to leave the chair to cast his vote.
Barely a week ago the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on his return from his medical leave abroad had said according to the standing orders of the house, a person who is a member of parliament who sits as the speaker forfeits his rights to cast a vote on any matter before the house during the proceedings.
This the minority had earlier during the debate on the matter raised issues with and contended that per parliament’s standing orders, the Speaker of Parliament does not have a casting vote, giving an indication that they were not going to allow for that to happen the second time, however, Joe Osei Owusu indicated that, he would still vote.
The single act of the sit-in Speaker Joe Osei Owusu who is the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament led to parliamentarians’ exchange blows among themselves while some officials of parliamentary services try to protect the Speaker’s seat and the mace of parliament from being attacked.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, before the chaos, had described the controversial e-levy bill as ‘technically incompetent’ insisting that his side will fiercely resist it.
Minority Leader Hon. Haruna Iddrisu Speaks
Haruna Iddrisu during a press briefing said his side will not endorse the bill because it is fraught with many challenges.
He said it was wrong for the bill to suggest that with every transfer above GHS 100, the sender will be charged, and in cases where the same amount is transferred to different people that sender will be charged multiple times.
“Their grand deception will fail. I have technical competence in the telecom and communications sector. What the telcos are charging is on fees and not transactions. The government is deceiving them to lower their fee charges by 0.25% and that makes up for what the 1.75% they want to introduce. No telco charges on transactions. They only charge transaction fees of 1% of transfers. I think that technically, this bill is incompetent and they must consult well,” he said.
Finance Committee approves e-levy bill for consideration
The Finance Committee of Parliament earlier on Monday approved the controversial E-levy bill for consideration by the House under the certificate of urgency.
This was done despite the resistance of the minority caucus.
A meeting of the committee on Monday, December 20, 2021, to consider the bill ended in a number of rounds of voting to decide on the approval of the bill.
The committee Norvanreports gathered that voted first on whether the bill can be submitted under a certificate of urgency, also voted on whether to reduce the 1.75% to be charged on transactions, and secondly on whether the committee approves the bill.
All instances during the voting at the committee level, there was a tie between the minority and the majority sides, with the Chairman of the Committee Hon Kwaku Kwarteng using his prerogative to veto the bill’s approval as he had the casting vote.
But the Minority side led by Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson in Parliament after the committee meeting during a press briefing said his side had resolved to press on with its opposition to the passage of the electronic transaction levy when it gets to the plenary.
According to him, the minority will not open itself up for dialogue anymore but will outrightly reject the bill.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told journalists that the Minority side insisted that the government meets with the various stakeholders who have complained about the levy including the Telecommunication Chamber, to listen to their concerns, but the majority side hesitated.
