Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Minority Caucus in parliament has boycotted deliberations on the controversial e-levy at a time the bill has reached the consideration stage.
The walk-out by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came after the e-levy bill was read the second time and was moving towards the consideration stage.
The Members of the Majority were thus compelled to continue with proceedings alone with a focus on some proposed amendments to the bill which have been introduced by the government.
Prior to the walk-out, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrissu, urged colleagues on the Majority side to get up and be counted among those who are opposed to the controversial e-levy.
The Majority leader earlier accused the Majority Caucus of smuggling into the Order Paper the consideration of the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), which he says was not part of the statement for the week.
He questioned why the Majority MPs would pull such a surprise on them.
The e-levy was introduced by the government as the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, read the 2022 Budget on the floor of parliament.
An initial levy of 1.75% was proposed on all electronic transactions but was subsequently slashed down to 1.5% after massive opposition from Ghanaians.
Despite the percentage reduction, the NDC still maintained that they would reject the e-levy in any shape or form.
According to opponents of the bill, the proposed 1.5% levy would increase the economic burden of Ghanaians and impact negatively the Fintech space.
But the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has debunked assertions that that the electronic levy bill when passed will kill the mobile money business in the country.