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Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, a former Deputy Attorney General and Member of Parliament(MP) for the Bolgatanga East seat, has given notice that the National Democratic Congress will continue its parliamentary business on Tuesday, October 22, even if its New Patriotic Party colleagues choose not to attend.
After Speaker Alban Bagbin announced that four seats were vacant, the NPP members, led by party leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, announced a conditional boycott of the parliament on Thursday.
The NDC has the fourth impacted seat, while the NPP holds three. With the NDC, which has been in the minority, suddenly claiming to be in the majority, the move has caused a fresh leadership crisis in parliament.
Furthermore, Dr. Ayine stated that the “new regime” will take effect on Tuesday when the legislature reconvenes, and that the NDC will act justly and practically on behalf of the people, including removing “repealable” measures.
Dominic Ayine quickly identified the Electronic Transfers Levy, or e-Levy, as a regulation that is likely to be repealed during his Friday morning appearance on Citi FM.
If there are issues that call for a simple majority rather than a two-thirds majority, he said, they will proceed without the NPP members, who claim they will only return to the house after the Supreme Court rules on an injunction application against the Speaker. He claimed that the issues of who makes up a majority or minority in parliament are determined by numerical strengths and are “as clear as daylight.”
“We will be filing private members motions.. We will repeal the obnoxious pieces of legislation they have passed, the taxes such as e-Levy and so on and so forth. In fact we will start implementing our manifesto on Tuesday” Dr Ayine stated.
“You mean you’ll start doing your own thing”, suggested host Bernard Avle, to which Dr. Ayine responded; “No, it’s not our own thing, we are working on behalf of the people of this country, we were elected to work on behalf of the people of this country so if they stay out, we have the mandate of the people to repeal e-Levy and change the fortunes of the people of this country instantaneously. So they should stay off, we will do business.”
Since the Electronic Transfer Levy (e-Levy) was proposed and subsequently implemented in the 2022 budget to raise money from electronic financial transactions, such as bank transfers, merchant payments, inward remittances, and mobile money transfers, the opposition NDC has made no secret of its opposition to the levy.
A 1.75% e-Levy on electronic transactions was introduced as part of the 2022 budget, which Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta unveiled on November 17, 2021.
The e-Levy was fiercely opposed by the NDC, which is led by its minority in parliament, which said it was regressive and onerous for Ghanaians, particularly the impoverished and those who depended on mobile money services. They contended that it would harm low-income workers and small enterprises, as well as raise the cost of living.
NDC MPs put up a fierce fight throughout the budget and e-Levy debates in Parliament, and when MPs tried to vote on the e-Levy on December 20, 2021, emotions in the legislature increased. NPP and NDC MPs engaged in a physical altercation as the session came to a close, and Speaker of the House Alban Bagbin left the room amid the commotion.
The Minority said that in order to enact the e-Levy without reaching a consensus, the administration had circumvented the correct processes.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
