The Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu has laughed off comments from the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu and has asked the public to disregard same. He said it is not the Majority Leader’s place to say whether the E-levy has been passed or not reminding the public that until a Bill is passed into law by Parliament, everything else that has been said or done prior to the passage, does not count.
“If the Leader of government business is talking technical issues when we expect him to talk about legal issues. We expect him Legislative power. You are in Parliament for us to help pass a law. If all the technical things are done, and the primary duty of Parliament is not done yet, the law is not passed, nothing happens. All the planning you have done, the studies, the consultations and whatever else that has been done, until the law is done, nothing has happened”.
“When I heard him talk like that, I just wondered, are you really serious to do business in the House this time around?” he quizzed.
Mr. Toobu explained that the comments of the Majority Leader were just to manage the expectations of Ghanaians but not give a true representation of what has happened and what will happen when Parliament resumes sitting tomorrow, January 25, 2022.
He insisted that “nothing is passed, we are waiting to pass the law. That law, we say we [the Minority Group] are opposing the E-levy in its current form. A tax is what the law says it is. Where is the law? The law is not there”.
He said this when he spoke to Samuel Mbura on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
The Wa West MP explained that while the Minority is not against taxation, it cannot accept the E-levy because of the humongous financial implications on the people of the country.
It would be recalled that the Mahority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said he was baffled by the statement that the e-Levy, as contained in the 2022 budget statement, has not been approved by the Parliament.
According to him, the 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.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
