The government has given indications of its plan to withdraw the controversial E-levy bill currently before Parliament and introduce a revised version next week.
This was made known by the deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, while reading the business statement for next week on Friday.
According to the Effutu MP, consultations between the leadership of Parliament and the various stakeholders on the bill is still ongoing adding that the Finance Minister has given indication that the withdrawal of the current bill will bring to an end the various public engagements in different parts of the country.
“The Minister for Finance has therefore given indication after his nationwide engagement with the citizenry on the Bill of the likelihood of the withdrawal of the Bill and reintroduction of same on Friday, 11th February 2022 barring any unforeseen circumstances. In the event that he is unlikely to withdraw and reintroduce the Bill on Friday 11th February 2022, he may do so on Tuesday, 15th February 2022,” Afenyo-Markin announced.
But the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, lamented the lack of certainty surrounding the conduct of business on the electronic transfer levy bill.
“We have been using words like likelihood, unforeseen circumstances, but for those of us in the Minority, the only conclusion is that they are trying to lay ambush on us because they are not certain of the things that they are saying. If they are certain, they should withdraw, and relay it when they are ready.”
”We are pleading that there should be some certainty in our dealings in the house. We say we want the Speaker to be around when we have the discussion, but the way the timetable is, Mr. Speaker might not be around when we finally have it,” he said.
Previous efforts to discuss the bill on the floor of Parliament last week did not materialize.
