Story by Serena Osei Boahemaah
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu has argued that the passage of the E-Levy was unconstitutional and following the court’s dismissal of the injunction filed, the Minority caucus will pursue the case to its logical conclusion.
On Tuesday, April 19, 2022, the MPs – Haruna Iddrisu, Mahama Ayariga, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, filed an injunction application to prevent the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) from going into effect.
Addressing the media shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday, May 4 2022, Haruna Iddrisu said that the Minority caucus remains resolute to challenge the approval of the E-Levy until the substantial case is determined.
The Minority Leader claimed that the legal bar for such a Bill’s passage had not been met when it was passed, questioning the argument made by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame.
“Can you imagine, I heard the Attorney General arguing that it was a voice vote. So, Ebenezer Kum voted with his voice from an ambulance, or he voted with his voice from a Clinic to add to the voice vote? And he’s insisting that 266 Members of Parliament participated in the decision and participated in the motion. 266 Members of Parliament after the Minority of 136 members walked out? Certainly, these are matters that the Ghanaian Public can judge better,” he stated arguably.
“So, in the determination of whether some irreparable damage or hardship will be caused, our hardship as we understand is the disrespect to the Constitution by the action of passage into law of an act ( ACT 1075 ) with numbers below the minimum constitutional threshold of 138 Members of Parliament,” he further emphasized.
