A security analyst, Adam Bonaa, has disclosed that proceedings and deliberations in parliament on the e-levy Bill is likely to get chaotic again, all things considered.
He asserts that although this isn’t what they are expected to do, both sides are “talking tough” and as such, it will be prudent to put measures in place to curtail any confrontation. Mr Bonaa called for the military and the police to be on standby and “invade parliament” if the legislators are seen fighting because they are elected into office by the people and are therefore expected to act with decorum in carrying out their agenda.
“For me, it looks like it’s going to be chaotic once again and that will be unfortunate… The stance both sides of the House have taken I think will not augur well for us as a nation. If for nothing at all, they should take a cue from Burkina Faso that has had a military takeover. I see this as an open invitation for some intervention. But whatever intervention that is, I’m not sure because then we expect that parliament as an arm of government should be able to dialogue, negotiate and agree on the way to get government business going rather than resorting to fisticuffs…”
Adam Bonaa
Following the strong views both the majority and minority have expressed regarding the passage of the e-levy bill into law, Mr Bonaa intimated that they were not elected to “go and disrespect” the people who voted for them. He explained that both the Executive and the minister of finance have had a lot of time to dialogue. However, information he is privy to suggests that the dialogue and stakeholder meetings are now going to take place.
“What have they been doing all this while? Looking at the timing of statements and counter-statements, it’s very bad. It’s not good for us as a democratic country”.
Adam Bonaa
Consensus Building between majority and minority
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Workshop, called for consensus building, compromise and broader consultation among the leaders of parliament as a means of breaking away from the confrontation that characterized proceedings in the first session of the 8th Parliament.
Commenting on this, Mr Bonaa revealed that a lot is expected from the majority side although he hasn’t seen much from them. He indicated that he was expecting some engagement and a lot more education should have taken place with stakeholders during parliament’s recess.
“But I haven’t seen any radio, tv jingle, any airing of a sort, trying to explain to us why the e-levy is so important. So, they are now going to dialogue and they’ve already given a time-frame in which the law must be passed for the e-levy to be implemented. Then, the question I ask is that, is it as if to say that we don’t care if parliament becomes like Bukom arena?”
Adam Bonaa
Mr Bonaa expressed disappointment over the lack of broader consultation between the two sides currently. That notwithstanding, he intimated that the minority side should not go to parliament attempting to fight as there are other ways of dealing with this rather than confrontation.
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