The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has disclosed that the Business Committee of Parliament will decide on the day the E-levy will be presented back in Parliament for a debate.
Speaking on the majority’s failure in resubmitting it to the House for deliberations, he averred that the business of the House is largely is determined by the Business Committee and not the majority.
“Sometimes they are not able to perform the particular business at the date and time appointed and it may vary based on the business. Certainly, the Business Committee will determine when to bring it. The business committee is very influential in determining this.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu
Joseph Osei-Owusu, stated that government is still conducting stakeholder engagement on the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill, hence its inability to resubmit the draft legislation before Parliament.
The First Deputy Speaker intimated that Parliament’s business committee is working to schedule the debate for the second week of February.
“We are simply not ready [to resubmit the bill to Parliament]. You see that public hearing is ongoing across the country. It is the business committee that will decide on what day the bill will be presented before the House. So, fuming left or right does not change anything. But it also depends on the proposal being ready. I am bringing a proposal to you, if for any reason I’m not ready, I’ll defer it.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu
His comments come after the Minority in the House raised concerns over the Majority’s failure to present the bill in the House this week.
Misunderstanding of E-levy
According to Joseph Osei-Owusu, he discovered that a lot of people have misapprehensions because they misunderstand what the E-Levy is about. He stated that a lot of people have been misinformed by people who haven’t seen the bill but are commenting.
“There are people making comments about your money in your wallet being taxed and so on which is not the case.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu
The Deputy Speaker mentioned that it is important for government to get the people involved even though the people are represented by their MPs. He averred that government wants the people themselves to understand what really the bill is about.
Speaking on the minority fuming on the failure to submit the bill, he averred that it was not up to anyone in Parliament to submit the bill but the business Committee as indicated.
“When it comes to Parliament, I think that we have had so much discussions on so many occasions. I have sat in meetings over this E-levy which has last for 3-4 hours and it is because Parliament cannot reach a consensus.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu
Joseph Osei Owusu stated that government is engaging in the public education because people are misinforming others on what the E-levy is about and what is going to be done.
“Ordinarily, public education comes after the bill but because of the misinformation that is going around government has decided to do this whiles the bill is pending.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu
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