It appears there is no ending to how far the controversies surrounding the E-levies can go.
Parliament set December 20th 2021 to deliberate on the controversial E-levy bill after the Finance Committee agreed to present the E-Levy Bill before the House for further deliberations.
However, in the wee hours of December 20th, 2021, Parliament cast another bad image of itself, as the Minority and Majority sides engaged in open fisticuff with each other.
Members of Parliament could be seen exchanging blows.
This followed the decision of the First Deputy Speaker, HON. Joseph Osei Owusu, to vacate the Speaker’s seat for the Second Deputy Speaker, hence allowing him a casting vote.
This was to allow him to have a casting vote to get the Electronic Levies bill passed, after he had assumed the Speakership seat, following Right Speaker Alban Bagbin’s absence.
In the ensuing melee, some Member from the Minority side had wanted to climb up the dais to prevent the First Deputy Speaker from vacating his seat.
The stalemate turned chaotic, as some members can be seen exchanging blows, amidst rancorous atmospheres.
This has since generated conversation across social and mainstream media, with many describing events of December 20th as slur on Ghana’s Parliamentary democracy.
Since its introduction, the E-levies has drawn sharp push backs from the Minority side of Parliament and some civil society groups.
The Minority in Parliament has vowed to resist the imposition of the 1.75% E-levies on electronic transactions, describing same draconian and insensitive.
The Majority, on the other hand, is also backing government to have the E-levy bill passed. According to the side the E-levies provides Ghana with the surest avenue to generate the much needed fund to improve infrastructure while tackling the rising unemployment numbers in the country.
