Category: Politics

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has cautioned the ruling New Patriotic Party against implementing the controversial E-levy saying it will cost them the 2024 election if passed.

“As you go around trying to convince Ghanaians to vote for you and your party, others with big pockets are facilitating your parties and when you win power, they get the positions, not you. So they don’t have that understanding, so there is that missing link.”

“Now they say I refused to preside and that is why some numbers were not in the house. I am not a Chief whip of any of the caucuses in the house and I am also not entitled to bring members to the house. That is not my duty.

“I am to preside and apply the rules and I have applied them fairly according to my understanding through literature and experience and I am not even sure that the members listened to what I read that day about the rules.”

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh

The Ghana Police Administration says it has taken steps to assist the Clerk of Parliament to avert the reoccurrence of the free-for-all fight witnessed in the House on Monday.

According to the Police, the move has become necessary as a result of various concerns raised on why they (Police) could not intervene.

“Following the recent happenings in the House of Parliament, during the 2022 budget debate, some concerned Ghanaians have questioned why the Police did not go into the Chamber to maintain law and order. And take action against Members of Parliament who were seen engaged in what looked to many like violent disturbance and scuffles in the Chamber of Parliament.

“We have, however, initiated steps to engage the Clerk, Marshal and leadership of Parliament to fashion out a more proactive way of supporting Parliament in this regard within the confines of laws of the country,” the Police assured in a press release signed by Director General, Public Affairs, ACP Kwesi Ofori.

Attached is the full press release

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has described as shameful and embarrassing moment in Parliament when Members of Parliament (MPs) were engaged in a free-for-all fight over the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) bill.

Addressing the media in Parliament, Mr. Mensah-Bonsu urged his colleagues in the House to render an apology to Ghanaians for the incident that happened in Parliament on Monday.

“Let me begin by first of all apologizing for and on behalf of the Members of Parliament for what happened in the House. I am speaking in my capacity as the Majority leader and also leader of the House.

“I think this is a very shameful and embarrassing moment for us in Parliament. I think all of us in parliament must be bowing down our heads in shame for this gross dereliction of responsibility and we must apologize for the people we represent in parliament,” Kyei Mensah-Bonsu urged his colleague MPs.

Background

Chaos broke out in Parliament Monday night during consideration of the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) bill as Members of Parliament (MPs) engaged in a free for all fight as the House was forced to abandon proceedings.

Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, was compelled to preside over proceedings in the absence of the Speaker, Alban Bagbin who left after demands for the E-Levy bill to be tabled went unheeded.

The Minority called for a division when the Speaker ruled the Majority had won a voice vote to carry a motion for adoption of the report from the Finance Committee on the bill.

This resulted in the second Deputy Speaker suspending the House to the disagreements of the NDC MPs whose leader, Haruna Iddrisu, addressed the media to register his displeasure.

The Majority through its deputy leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin accused the Speaker Alban Bagbin of deliberately abandoning Parliament to enable the Minority to frustrate government business.

Sitting however resumed with first Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu presiding who announced he would partake in the voting even as he presided despite standing order 109 bars him from doing so.

This got the Minority agitated. Chaos then broke out when he handed over the chair to the second deputy speaker who had voted to enable him to vote too.

The MPs started punching and head-butting each other bringing proceedings to a halt. The house then returned to adjourn proceedings to Tuesday.

Parliament adjourned

However, Parliament has adjourned sitting sine die failing to pass the controversial E-levy.

The application for adjournment was moved by Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who argued the move is to ensure a serene environment for consideration of the controversial tax. It was supported by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM

The Finance Committee of Parliament has approved the controversial E-levy bill for consideration by the House.

This was done despite the resistance of the minority caucus.

A meeting of the committee on Monday, December 20, 2021, to consider the bill ended in a number of rounds of voting to decide on the approval of the bill.

Information gathered shows that the committee voted first on whether the bill can be submitted under a certificate of urgency, and secondly on whether the committee approves the bill.

In both instances, there was a tie between the minority and the majority sides, with the Chairman of the Committee using his prerogative to veto the bill’s approval.

The Minority in Parliament has however resolved to press on with its opposition to the passage of the electronic transaction levy when it gets to the plenary.

According to the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the minority will not open itself up for dialogue anymore but will outrightly reject the bill.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told journalists that the Minority side insisted that the government meet with the various stakeholders who have complained about the levy including the Telecommunication Chamber, to listen to their concerns, but the majority side hesitated.

“[We believed that] at the minimum, meet with them and listen to them. The NPP Majority in parliament said they do not believe that… You can see clearly a government that is not ready to listen. A government that is determined to push the agenda regardless of its impact on the people of Ghana. The Chairman decided to exercise his right under the casting vote and voting in favour for us to consider the e-levy under a certificate of urgency, without understanding the need for us to listen clearly to the people that have issued press releases and others that have submitted memoranda to parliament.

“We are sad, not only because we lost, but we felt that the NPP does not believe in democracy and if they are determined to do something, they want to push regardless of the cost,” he said.

He added that the Minority side will insist on a number of amendments that will make sure that the bill is not passed as expected by the majority side.

“We signaled that we do not believe that Mobile Money services should be taxed. The NPP again did not listen, we voted again, and they won using the same approach… The Chairman decided to exercise his right. Our position is simple, we will not compromise, we will not accept dialogue, we are going in with the simple position that we are going to vote against it. We will introduce a number of amendments to make sure that this tax does not see the light of day.”

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber, Kenneth Ashigbey has urged the government to work in preventing the consequences associated with passing the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).

Speaking in an interview on Friday, the Telecom Chamber boss said his outfit is engaging the Ministry of Finance in order to avoid the negative experiences with such a tax witnessed in other jurisdictions.

According to him, there have been a couple of meetings with the Minister in which they suggested that the levies were high adding that there are still ongoing engagements on the levy.

“We know that the levels are high and we are working with the government to ensure that if this tax is passed the unintended consequences that we have seen in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda do not arise. So we have talked about the issue of the discrimination of the tax and asking the government that you need to bring in the banks so as to put a cap on it,” he added.

He stated that the Chamber also suggested to the Minister that “let’s put a cap of let’s say 2,000 so that if I’m paying GHC5,000 so that’s beyond 2,000 the rates don’t go up again.  We’re working with the government to see how we can ensure that if this is passed, we can put a cap on it, and bring the banks into the system.”

Mr. Ashigbey also added that the Mobile Money sector cannot be classified as an informal sector, “I see them as our real economy.”

“As a country, we are also not oblivious to the fact that as a country we need to raise some revenue to be able to support developmental function. We cannot keep on borrowing and you may have to find a way to expand the tax net,” he added.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM

The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu has urged members of Parliament not to frustrate policies of the government.

He said even though democracy requires lawmakers to scrutinise policies and initiatives of the government, it should not lead to stalling of governance.

“We have been fortunate in our political journey to have moved on from a period of one political party dominating everything. Today, at least the two main political parties have all been in government. If we are honest, we will agree that there is no perfect government and there will never be as long as we have different points of view.”

“And if we are honest, we will also agree that there are no people in this world that love paying taxes, and yet there is no other way conceived by the human mind by which government can raise the resources to meet our needs other than by raising taxes. I do not know of any form of taxes that is less painful than others. So at last, government, by all means, would have to raise taxes to meet our needs and if we are good citizens, we will pay our taxes,” the Otumfuo made the comment at launch of the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Commemorative Gold Coin in Kumasi on Sunday.

The comment comes in the wake of the controversial E-levy being proposed in the 2022 budget.

The government wants 1.75% of all electronic cash transaction exceeding GHC100.

The opposition has risen vehemently against it. The impasse has stalled agreements over the 2022 budget with the Finance Minister saying he will further engage stakeholders, without noting the possibility of a reduction in the proposed levy.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh

Anti-Corruption Group, Citizens Movement Against Corruption, says that Ghana’s Constitutional arrangements needs amendment to make separation of powers distinct in order to fight corruption head-on.

Speaking in an interview , Chairman for the Citizen Movement, Edem Senanu, pointed out that the structure of the 1992 Constitution makes it difficult for appointees to hold each other accountable.

“We have challenges with our democratic arrangement that seem to facilitate corruption. You have the situation where the Executive appoints people from Parliament that are supposed to supervise the Executive.

“Once you appoint people from Parliament, it’s ability to point out mistakes whether it’s procurement related etcetera you have Parliament compromised. Because many of its Members are appointed as Ministers and Deputy Ministers, so they would not want to raise their voice when things are going wrong,” he disclosed.

Mr. Senanu also added that people will continue in corruption with impunity when there are no visible cases of persons found capable of the law dealt.

“The level of prosecution and sanction has been limited. You see human beings begin to stop something when the risks involved are clear. So when you have a situation where quite a number of people have been investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned. And as it were they have been found culpable and jailed and that is publicly known. With the numbers increasing then it will serve as a deterrent.”

He also touched on political party financing law that set the sealing on how much an individual can give to a party or Corporate entities can give to a party.

“Even a political season must be defined 6-months June to December. So that you don’t have three years of campaigning and then recapture such a big debt when you come in. You are only looking at how you can manipulate contracts and make the money back,” he added.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM

Government has launched six (6) community mining schemes in “galamsey” endemic areas of the country to address the issue of illegal mining.

The schemes, which are being rolled out in six (6) mining areas in the Western, Ashanti and Eastern Regions of the country is expected to enable willing persons to mine in a responsible manner and create 10,300 direct jobs and 21,000 indirect jobs.

Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker made this known at the regular Meet the Press session organized by the Ministry of Information in Accra on Wednesday, November 8, 2021.

According to him, government is sanitizing the extractive sector of the country with the introduction of the community mining scheme which paves the way for the commencement of regulated, responsible, and sustainable community mining, aimed at helping to get rid of illegal mining.

“We are creating community mining schemes to hold onto those who will be moved out of the illegal mining and to cushion them as well. So far, we have created these schemes in six (6) mining areas of the Western, Ashanti and Eastern Regions. The schemes are intended to provide livelihoods for members in the mining communities, promote sustainable and responsible mining and therefore prevent illegal mining,” Mr. Duker said.

He said community mining had become the main fulcrum around which the nation sought to organize responsible small scale mining explaining that it is the reason government has developed a Small Scale and Community Mining operational manual to guide the operations of small scale miners.

Establishment of Mineral Development Unit at ADB

Mr. Duker also disclosed that government as part of efforts to continuously support relevant players within the mining sector and ensure that small scale miners have access to credit facilities for their operations has established a Minerals Development Unit at the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

This he said will help tackle the issue of operational capital as the lack of credit facilities for small scale mining operators has been identified as one of the driving forces behind foreigners’ involvement in the small scale mining space.

Source: Starrfmonline.com