Until the house rises on December 21, 2021, Parliament is likely to meet on Mondays, which are not typical legislative business days.
The decision comes after what seemed to be a delay in the passage of the 2022 budget due to entrenched stances maintained by the two caucuses in Parliament on budget issues.
The two parties have agreed to work together to reach an agreement on the budget.
To facilitate this, the President has instructed that all ministers and deputies be present in Parliament to help with the passage of the appropriation bill.
The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, outlined the actions taken to achieve the Appropriation Bill’s passage.
“We have agreed to have sitting on Monday and have also extended sitting and the necessary support systems will be put in place to ensure the pleasure of members even as they labor for the ensuing period.”
“I want to assure you that we have discussed these things and even ministers have been whipped to make time for committee sittings.”
Meanwhile, the concerns surrounding the electronic transaction levy persist, with some minority MPs describing the GHC 241 million allocations for revenue monitoring and assurance as doubtful and unnecessary.
Some Ghanaians and civil society organizations have also voiced reservations about the aforementioned distribution.
Franklin Cudjoe, Chief Executive of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, for example, has scolded the government over the allocation.
According to him, it contradicts the justifications for the proposed levy.
“We tend to spend too much in this country to collect some of these taxes. And I think the government is compounding the problems of the e-levy just when some of us were beginning to understand some of the reasons given.”
“I think this GHS241 million allocation for this e-levy is needless. It flies in the face of the motive for this tax. So I’m appalled at this decision when in actual fact there is some supposed entity in place to do the collection.”
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
