E-Levy Bill Will Be Laid After Consultations Are Concluded - Kyei Mensah

The Majority Leader, Kyei Mensah Bonsu, says a new date for the consideration of e-levy will be determined in consultation with the Minority caucus. He said he is certain that the bill will not be laid on Wednesday. This follows an enquiry from the Minority Leader on the floor of the House on Tuesday as to when the controversial

subject will be deliberated upon. It is unclear what is holding back debate on the bill, but sources suggest that the absence of the Speaker and a key member of the majority caucus from the jurisdiction accounts for the delay. The Majority Leader, while speaking on the floor of Parliament, said, when I came [last week] to

present the business statement for this week, I said if we are able to conclude the discussions on the way forward for the e-levy, it would be introduced on Friday, and if we couldn’t finish, it would come this week. He added that since the bill could not be laid last week, the plan was for that to be done this week, but this may not

happen. The course of the discussion facilitated the situation in the house on Friday, and we couldn’t make much progress, which is why I said if we couldn’t, it will be done this week. Even though it has been advertised for tomorrow [Wednesday], we need to confer on that because we may also not be able to do it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, is urging the Majority caucus to wait till the return of the Speaker before tabling the E-levy bill. According to him, doing so will help prevent the chaos and confusion that took place in the House before the house went on Christmas break. If the Speaker traveled

this weekend, then he will not be available. Our advice to the majority side is that we should wait until the speaker comes back. When the Speaker presides, then we will vote on the matter. Once that is done, the end decision will also be a decision of the house, he said.