Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South, George Ricketts-Hagan, has intimated that in his view, the Minority Members of Parliament should have stayed in Parliament to vote against the E-levy when it was brought before Parliament to be considered on Tuesday March 29, 2022.
However, Mr. Rickets-Hagan stated that the leadership of his side thought otherwise due to information on a move by the Majority they had but was not privy to the rest hence, the decision to walkout.
“My personal view is that we should have stayed and voted but leadership got information and the best option was to walk out and use the Supreme Court ruling.”
George Ricketts-Hagan
According to the Member of Parliament, the Minority deployed all strategies and at the eleventh hour the strategy was to walkout before the Speaker put out the question. He added that the general consensus is people didn’t want the E-levy.
“We wanted to see it through voting, it became a tactical game and we were looking at the numbers. So, we were sort of monitoring each other, who is not in and who is being carried in ambulance and the [Majority] were also doing that, to look at how they can get one of us to get out.”
George Ricketts-Hagan
The Cape Coast MP averred that the very day the voting was to take place was the day they invited one of the Minority MPs to court. According to him, the Majority checked the Minority’s numbers before carrying out the agenda and the Minority also did check the Majority’s number. “So it was a tactical game.”
“We asked what was best. If at this stage you realize that they have the numbers, what is the best way out? If we walk out and use the ruling of the court, will it help?”
George Ricketts-Hagan
Majority didn’t fear there will be no quorum
Also contributing to the discussion, the former MP for Suhum, Frederick Opare Ansah, stated that the Majority Leader asking the Speaker to carry on with the voting process whiles the NDC MPs were walking out of the Chamber was not because he feared that there would be no quorum for the approval of the E-levy but wanted the Parliamentary proceedings to continue.
The former Suhum MP indicated that so far as both parties heard the question, voting could take place. He explained that there is a rule that implies that once the Members of the House hear the question, voting can commenced. However, an instance where they can’t vote is if they didn’t hear the question on the floor of Parliament which wasn’t the case in the approval of the E-levy according to the former MP.
These comments followed Minority’s walkout just before the approval of the Electronic Levy in Parliament. The Minority later described the approval as illegal and unconstitutional because, in its view, the Majority did not have the right numbers to pass it.
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