Member of Parliament (MP) for the Busila South Constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Clement Apaak has argued the legitimacy of claims that the e-levy has been passed.
He clarified the e-levy has not been passed. “We have not accepted the e-levy. If someone says Parliament has technically accepted the e-levy, I tell you that person is a big liar and Ghanaians must never believe that person. There is nothing like the technical passing of a bill in Ghana.”
The politician reasoned had the bill been passed, the Minister of Finance would not be on a tour to educate the Ghanaian populace to get their buy-in on the levy “or even re-lay the bill before Parliament.”
In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he declared the position of the NDC on the e-levy remains unchanged. “We are still resolute and we say the e-levy is theft and not a levy gov’t should take from its people if they really care for them. This is just wrong and the NDC will not accept it. The position of the 137 NDC MP’s against the e-levy will never change today or tomorrow.”
Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says, the e-levy was not only approved when the motion to approve the budget was adopted in Parliament but it was included in the Appropriation Bill which was passed unanimously by the House.
Addressing a capacity building workshop organized for the Majority Caucus in Parliament and some Ministers of State, on January 22, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said that “it is a difficulty for me when people are kicking against the e-levy when you know that in the adoption of the motion to approve the budget, we approved of that. So, it means that the first step has already been surmounted.”
He added “then the e-levy has been factored into the various estimates that we have approved for all the sectors. That is the second thing we did. The third step is when we encapsulated everything into the Appropriation Bill and passed the bill unanimously. What does it mean, you have approved of the E-levy.”
