The Minority in Parliament has called on its colleagues on the other side to wait for the return of Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin before tabling the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy, Bill, 2021.
There is uncertainty surrounding the consideration of the bill, which seeks to impose a 1.75% levy on transactions, including Mobile money transfers done between accounts on the same Electronic Money Issuers (EMI), Mobile money transfers from accounts on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI, Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts (either directly, GIP debit, bank cards or another scheme), Transfers from mobile money accounts to bank accounts (either directly, GIP debit, bank cards or another scheme) and Bank transfers originating from a bank account belonging to an individual.
An attempt to pass the E-Levy late last year degenerated into chaos leading to a free-for-all fight in parliament as the Minority raised concerns about moves by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joe Osei Owusu, presiding as Speaker to vote on the matter.
The House is set to debate it this week after the Majority failed to table it before the House for consideration on Friday.
With the Speaker out of the jurisdiction for further medical treatments, it is unclear if that will happen.
Ahead of today’s sitting, the Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, wants leadership of the majority side to wait till the Speaker returns if they want to prevent a further round of chaos and confusion.
“If the Speaker travelled this weekend, then he will not be available. Our advice to the majority side is that we should wait until the speaker comes back. When the speaker presides then we will vote on the matter. Once that is done, the end decision will be a decision of the house,” he said.
Source: The Newsroom Online