-Minority Walks Outs, Heads To “Unbiased” Supreme Court.
After the third reading in Parliament, a one-sided legislature approved the highly unpopular electronic levy (e-levy) by what the Minority claimed was an unconstitutional process.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, described the approval as illegal and unconstitutional because the Majority did not have the required number (138) present in the House to approve the policy.
“This is a charade,” he said at a press conference in Parliament, shortly after the alleged unconstitutional passage of the e-levy.
As far as the Majority Leader is concerned, “there is no E-Levy,” he stated.
“The majority of less than 137 conducting businesses only proceeded on illegal and unconstitutional business. Parliament did not have the numbers to take any decision that should be binding on Parliament and Ghanaians,” Hon. Iddrisu stated.
In protest of what was described as unconstitutional the arm-twisting of Ghana’s legislature for the passage of the e-levy, the Minority staged a walkout that allowed the Majority to have a field day.
Already, three parliamentarians from the Minority side have filed a writ at the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the obnoxious e-levy which Haruna Idrissu described as a “nuisance of nuisance tax”.
In the writ spotted by Whatsup News, the MPs, Haruna Iddrisu, Mahama Ayariga and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa are asking the Attorney General to reply within 14 days to the writ which seeks the Supreme Court to declare that approval of the e-levy invalid.
According to them, a judicial precedent in the Justice Abdulai versus Attorney General, the Majority needs a quorum of 138 MPs for the passage to be valid. But, the Majority had only 137 MPs, because the MP for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo is still domiciled in the USA and could not have voted in a Hung Parliament that had both the Majority side and the Minority having 137 lawmakers apiece.
With the absence of Adwoa Sarfo, the ruling NPP would have had only 136 MP, but the independent candidate for the Fomena constituency had pledged to always vote on the side of the Majority, thus giving the Majority and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority 137 votes apiece.
“We are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Parliament did not have the numbers to take any decision that should bind on Parliament and bind on the Ghanaian people,” the Minority Leader revealed.
The E-Levy was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, March 29 after the third reading in the House. The Minority staged a walkout during the second reading on the E-levy.
In a surprise invasion of the House on Tuesday, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta stormed Parliament and moved a motion for the approval of the levy. After several deliberations and arguments, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin declared the E-Levy passed in the absence of the Minority who had staged a walkout.
The Akufo Addo administration which has plunged Ghana into a public debt quagmire of GHC300 billion, courtesy of Dr. Bawumia who heads the Economic Management Team (EMT), claims the government badly needs the GHC 6 billion from the e-levy to be able to undertake its developmental policies.
However, the government has refused to demonstrate restraint in how it continues to waste public funds amidst the suggested austerity.