Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has revealed that the Minority has not raised any issue of quorum regarding the passage of the Electronic Transaction levy (E-levy).
Mr Afenyo-Markin indicated that when the Minority staged the walkout on March 29, 2022, they could have stayed to raised the issue of quorum.
Following this, he noted that due to the election of the Assin North MP being annulled, the Minority did not raise the matter as the House was working with 274 MPs.
“When you listen to Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, they never raised the issue of quorum. They only said they were not participating so they left. But if you exit the chamber, it doesn’t mean that your exit will stop public business. It is never the case. They could have stayed in to raise the issue of quorum. They didn’t. I don’t understand why they think that by merely walking out, they would ambush us and we would lack quorum”.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin
The Deputy Majority leader expressed that the issue of counting arises only when it is raised. Citing the Criminal Offenses Act which was recently amended, Mr Afeyo-Markin intimated that the amended Act was done by about “just 20 or so” MPs. As a consequent, he questioned whether the Minority will assert that on that particular score, there was no issue of quorum.
Assin North MP’s exclusion from parliament
Commenting on the Assin North MP’s court case, Mr Afenyo-Markin revealed that the Minority prevented Mr James Gyakye Quayson from entering the chamber, so as not to tolerate an illegality.
“On that day, because the decision on Quayson had sufficed, Quayson was in the office and they didn’t allow him come in. They themselves told him until the stay of execution process was duly filed; they themselves told him, ‘don’t enter the chamber’. So, he did not. At that point, the number was 274 because Quayson’s election has been nullified. The number for taking decision couldn’t have been 275. At that material point in time, our number was 274, not 275”.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin
On his part, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, revealed that the walkout staged by the Minority Caucus in Parliament was born out of the opponent’s side resolve to fight against the passage of the E-levy bill. He noted that the Minority is not concerned about resisting the bill, instead, it intends to block its passage completely.
The Bawku MP explained that the walkout was necessary, as the Minority, due to the absence of the Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, did not have the needed number to block the passage of the bill.
“If we were denied one of our votes, we were looking at the mathematics. So, we will be 136 and they will be 137. If it is 137 and 136, then clearly they’ll win the vote. A lot of people said ‘oh stand and vote and be counted and let them see that we have voted and you’ve lost through a vote’. But at that material time, our calculation was that we’re not fighting so that people will see that we’re fighting; we’re fighting to actually try and stop the passage of the legislation”.
Mahama Ayariga
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