The caucus didn’t put up a strong battle to stop the three new pieces of tax legislation that were enacted on Friday, as claimed by the minority in Parliament, and that accusation has been disputed.
Sam Nartey George, a member of parliament for Ningo-Prampram, said on the Citi Morning Show on Monday that the clerks in Parliament should be questioned about how they handled Friday’s head count.
If we had given in, the vote wouldn’t have taken place, we wouldn’t have given an account of our 136 votes, and we wouldn’t have disputed what appeared to be a counting error. We now know that Mohammed Tuferu was not a member of Parliament when we conducted the initial tally.
The vote shouldn’t have read 136, 137, but the Speaker only announces what is provided to him, as Mr. George explained to host Bernard Avle. “There are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side.”
The clerks “have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137,” he continued.
The Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022; the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill, 2022; and the Income Tax Amendment Bill, 2022, were all passed by Parliament on Friday, March 30.
The financial bills aim to mobilize around 4 billion Ghana cedis in domestic revenue each year.
In order to facilitate the board approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Program staff-level agreement, the legislation is also essential to the government’s efforts.
An MP from the majority had a near-fatal accident on his way to the House, yet the bills were still carried despite the minority’s previous communication of disapproval.
Credit: citinewsroom.com
