A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu Constituency, Ras Mubarak, has lauded government’s ability to pass the controversial e-levy bill in parliament.

Mr Mubarak indicated that the leadership of the Majority did everything in its power to ensure that its members made it to parliament to ensure the passage of the bill. This, he noted, wasn’t the case of the Minority who he revealed had no excuse for failing to galvanize its members into the Chamber to vote on the passage of the levy, particularly when the Majority managed to wheel a seriously ill MP in an ambulance to vote.

Ras Mubarak emphasized that the NDC had no justification for not exhausting legitimate parliamentary procedures to get its member into the chamber to vote. He expressed that on a day where it mattered the most, the NDC leadership failed and that is what they will be remembered by when the history of this “shambolic spectacle” is written.

“Politics is hard ball and clearly NPP plays it better. The Minority’s claim is that one of its members was on his way from court, so they didn’t have the numbers”.
Ras Mubarak

The former Kumbugu legislator underscored that the NPP is “horrible” and that’s the more reason why a serious opposition is needed to hold “their balls by the fire” and not make them get away with the kind of “horrendous things” they are getting away with in parliament.

Passage of e-levy bill

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of the National Youth Authority, Pius Enam Hadzide has commended parliament for passing the e-levy. Following this, he called on President Akufo-Addo to swiftly sign the act into law.

Mr Hadzide expressed that government consulted broadly on the 2022 budget presented by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and Parliament was praised for adopting the 2022 budget and passing the appropriation because of the raft of youth development interventions and programs in the budget. He noted that there are not less than twenty of such intervention including the YouStart initiative that would develop and transfer many young Ghanaians from job seekers to job creators and job givers.

“It’s our hope that President Akufo-Addo whose vision it is to transform the young Ghanaian into a successful entrepreneur and change our situation and narrative will sign the act into law without delay”.
Pius Enam Hadzide

The passage of the e-levy in parliament on March 29, 2022, has further deepened the division among the majority and minority side. Following its passage, the minority has vowed to challenge the passage of the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) at the Supreme Court.

The Minority could not participate in the consideration of the e-levy at the second and third reading stages due to a boycott. That notwithstanding, the boycott did not prevent Parliament from passing the levy. All the proposed amendments by some Minority MPs were withdrawn as none of them was present to move those amendments in their name. The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, expressed his surprise by the Minority walkout but indicated that it would not affect the course of proceedings.