The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, says the way the government and its officials are behaving and doing things, regarding the electronic transaction tax (e-levy), is putting the country on a slippery and dangerous path to chaos and anarchy.
“People must be careful, we are operating a constitutional democracy.
It is in the interest of those in power to make sure that they walk the narrow path of constitutional order.”
Okudzeto Ablakwa warned that they continued to act with impunity and to show complete disregard for the court, “when things get out of hand, we cannot guarantee what will happen”.
The North Tongu MP was reacting to a statement by the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Service (GRA) that the collection of the 1.5 percent tax on electronic transactions is going to start on May 1, 2022.
Okudzeto Ablakwa, who together with two other MPs on the minority side of the aisle have filed an injunction application at the Supreme Court, seeking to stop the collection of the tax which has been approved by parliament, deems the statement by the GRA’s Commissioner-General, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah to be contemptuous of the court.
He has therefore vowed to drag the Commissioner-General to the Supreme Court for contempt.
Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has downplayed the move by the Minority to torpedo the implementation of the 1.5 percent electronic transaction tax, saying, they are only gunning down vultures.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu sees the move by the minority in parliament as an “exercise in futility”, pointing out that the law is already being implemented.
Once the President signs a bill into law, if Parliament has not postponed the operation of the bill, immediately after the assent, it comes into operation.
“So, this bill is in operation, the necessary structures are being put in place now. It does not mean it is not being implemented.”
Content created and supplied by: KyeretwienanaOseiBonsu (via Opera
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