Following the passage of the three new taxes passed on Friday, some section of Ghanaians have called out the minority caucus for its failure in opposing the passage of the tax bills. However, the Minority in Parliament have disputed the claims that the caucus did not stage a good fight to reject or prevent the passge of the tax bills.
Sam Nartey George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, said on the Citi Morning Show on Monday that the clerks in Parliament should be questioned about how they handled Friday’s head count.
“If we had acquiesced we wouldn’t have gone through the vote, we wouldn’t have accounted for our 136, we wouldn’t have challenged what appeared to be an error in counting. We are aware now that at the time we did the first count Mohammed Tuferu was not in Parliament.
“There are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side, so clearly, that vote shouldn’t have read 136, 137, but be that as it may, the Speaker only announces what it is presented to him,” the lawmaker said.
He added that “the clerks have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137.”
On Friday, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill, 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill, 2022 were passed by Parliament, despite heavy opposition by the minority.
As part of the mobilization of domestic revenue, the government’s tax bills submitted to Parliament aim to bring in roughly 4 billion Ghanaian Cedis yearly.
Additionally, the bills are essential in helping the government facilitate the Board Approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme staff-level agreement.
