Joseph Osei Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, says the government is still conducting stakeholder engagements on the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill, hence its inability to resubmit the draft legislation before Parliament.
His comments come after the Minority in the House fumed over the Majority’s failure to present the bill in the House this week.
But Osei-Owusu said Parliament’s business committee is working to schedule the debate for the second week of February.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Thursday (3 February 2022), the First Deputy Speaker declared: “We are simply not ready [to resubmit the bill to Parliament]. You see that public hearing is ongoing across the country.
“We’ve discovered that a lot of people have misapprehensions because they misunderstand what the E-Levy is about. A lot of people have been misinformed by people who haven’t seen the bill but are commenting.”
He added: “I think it is important for the government to get the people involved even though the people are represented by their MPs. But in this particular instance, we want the people themselves to understand what really the bill is about …
“It is the business committee that will decide on what day the bill will be presented before the House. So, fuming left or right does not change anything. But it also depends on the proposal being ready. I am bringing a proposal to you; if for any reason I’m not ready, I’ll defer it,” Osei-Owusu said.
GhanaFeed.com