The Minority in Parliament has dismissed Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu’s assertions that the E-levy has been formally approved by the House.
James Klutse Avedzi, Member of Parliament for Ketu North, challenged the administration to go ahead and execute the program if they feel it has been approved.
He informed TV3’s Komla Kluste that, the policy proposal has not been approved.
“If they say that technically, it has been approved then there is no need to bring any bill to Parliament, they should go ahead and start collection. It is not true that the E-levy has been approved. The Majority side usually try to find ways of throwing dusts into the eyes of Ghanaians,” he said.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu argued that Parliament had previously authorized the controversial E-Levy.
According to the Suame Member of Parliament (MP), the E-Levy still needs legislative support from Parliament.
His comments come on the back of threats by the minority side of the house that they will oppose the E-Levy, a tax policy they describe as being ‘draconian’ and ‘insensitive’.
However, speaking at a capacity-building workshop for Parliament’s Majority caucus and select Ministers of State, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said that the issue of authorization for the E-Levy was long addressed when Parliament made certain actions.
“The difficulty for me is when people are kicking against the e-levy when you know that in the adoption of the motion to approve the budget which contains the e-levy as a policy, we approved of that so it means that the first step has already been mounted. The receivables of the e-levy have been factored into the various estimates approved for all the sectors. That is the second thing we did. Thirdly, we encapsulated everything into the appropriations bill and passed it unanimously”, he explained.
What this means for the Majority Leader is that “you have approved of the E-Levy”.
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SOURCE: 3NEWS
