- Parliament on (29 March) passed the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) by a vote of MPs from the Majority Caucus of the House after the Minority staged a walkout.
A private legal practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, has described the Minority’s decision to walk out of Parliament during the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) as “a gamble that didn’t pay off.”
He said that although he believes that the decision to boycott the proceedings was on the spur of the moment, the Minority miscalculated the whole process.
Speaking on Asaase Radio’s news analysis and current affairs show – The Forum – on Saturday (2 April), Addo said: “I think the decision by the Minority to boycott was probably on the spur of the moment and they should have stayed a little bit longer.”
“I think the decision to boycott was a gamble that didn’t pay off and thinking through it, they’ve regretted boycotting. The boycott was a rushed decision. I think it was probably a miscalculation and having miscalculated they felt they’ll go to court. Maybe they’ll call on witnesses and the court accepts witnesses.”
Watch Samoa Addo on The Forum:
Parliament passes E-Levy after Minority walkout
Parliament on (29 March) passed the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) by a vote of MPs from the Majority Caucus of the House after the Minority staged a walkout.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said his side still opposes the E-Levy, hence the walkout.
Iddrisu urged President Akufo-Addo to withdraw the E-Levy Bill from the House because, he said, the Minority will not have anything to do with the controversial tariff.
Earlier, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, had said the government has decided to reduce the basic E-Levy charge from 1.75% of the value of the transaction to 1.5%.
He said the government had reached this decision following engagements with various stakeholders undertaken by the government.
Akufo-Addo assents to E-Levy bill
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assented to the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) bill to officially make it a law.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Thursday (30 March), Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, the government spokesperson on Governance and Security said the president signed the bill into law on Thursday, 31 March 2022.
“I confirm this to the good people of the Republic of Ghana that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the final stage; which is like the eight of bringing a bill into law, has assented to the bill.”
E-Levy to start in May
According to him, beginning 1 May 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will start collecting the levy.
“So, the bill takes effect in May, by which time we would have done all our work in terms of GRA being prepared to immediately start the taxation process,” he said.
Nicholas Brown
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