Regardless of the stiff opposition mounted by the minority Members of Parliament (MPs), their colleagues on the other side of the aisle managed to pass all three revenue bills last Friday.
Passing these billswas critical to the government’s application for a $3 billion credit facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It was a numbers game in Parliament last Friday, as the NDC MPs appeared not prepared to be beaten for the second time, having fallen flat in the votes that approved President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees.
Unlike the approval of ministerial nominees which was done through secret ballot, all three revenue bills were passed by head count, at the instance of the minority.
They challenged the Speaker’s ruling at the third reading of all the bills, drawing strength from Order 113 (2), which led to the head count.
Having gone through the consideration stages, Speaker Alban Bagbin put the question (‘Ayes or Nos’) to those in favor of the bills being read for the third time.
It was always the majority side that shouted in favor on top of their voices, whilst the minority screamed against it. The majority won the voice vote on each of the questions, according to the Speaker.
However, the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, rose after each ruling to demand a head count.
This was accepted by the Speaker, though the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, attempted to deflate the motions.
On the second attempt by the Minority Chief Whip to challenge the Speaker’s ruling, after the voice note, the Deputy Majority Leader, in a counter appeal, opined that his colleague on the other side was “abusing” Order 113(2).
DAMAGE CONTROL
The demeanor of the minority throughout the passage of the bills last Friday, which ended after 12 midnight, showed a side that did not want to be seen as pushovers.
Monitoring proceedings from the press gallery in the Chamber, this paper observed the hard-line attitude of the opposition MPs, even when the Speaker repeated that he was following the direction of the leaders of the House.
At a point, some NDC MPs’ reactions reached a crescendo, compelling the Speaker to intervene. They were challenging the numbers too, but the Speaker stated that he read out what the table office had counted and given to him.
Besides, there was a cue from leadership that if any member had an issue, “the right thing to do is to write it on a piece of paper and pass it to their leaders,” Bagbin said, adding that “normally leaders catch the Speaker’s eye.”
Last Friday, all 136 NDC MPs were present and sat through the processes leading to the voting of all the bills.
This paper also observed that the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, was not in the Chamber, nor was the General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong.
SUSPENSION
During the proceedings, the Speaker abruptly suspended sitting, but did not state how long the break would last, which is the usual procedure.
He left his seat and the MPs began to converse amongst themselves, moving from one side of the floor to the other, as others also trooped to the cafeteria to refresh themselves.
The Chronicle went to the entrance of the forecourt of the Chamber, where a guard of honor is mounted for presidents when they visit the House.
Upon getting out, this paper saw an ambulance parked, but opened, with some members of the majority around. The doors to the ambulance were closed as this paper approached, and the vehicle drove off.
We found out that the MP for Nanton constituency, Mohammed HardiTuferi, who was driving to the House to vote, got involved in an accident. He was ferried in an ambulance to Parliament but was not in the Chamber, to make the point that he was in the precincts of Parliament, which allowed him to be counted and to vote.
The Chronicle also witnessed the Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, being called to the ambulance to ascertain his colleague MP, who was involved in the accident.
COMMENTS
Both sides of the House sounded repetitive with regards to their entrenched positions on the various bills.
Whereas the minority insisted they were draconian and must be rejected, the majority argued they would generate revenue for the government, in its quest to repair the current state of the economy.
The Minority Leader, Dr. CassielAto Forson, moved amendments during the consideration to have the bills rejected through the backdoor.
On the Excise Stamp Duty bill, he did not agree with the government wanting to tax tobacco and spirits, for instance. But his argument was countered by the Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei Asare who argued that government, whilst boosting revenue, would also limit the intake of hard liquor as well as the smoking of tobacco.
The minority also vehemently opposed the Income Tax Amendment bill, arguing that the ordinary citizen would suffer if the bill passed.
THE BILLS
The three bills are the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, which will adjust upwardS the tax on income; the Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, which will tax or increase tax on tobacco; and the Alcohol Tax (Amendment) Bill, which will tax alcohol at a higher rate than beer and the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill. The three together are expected to rake in some GH₡4 billion annually.
The government had appealed to Parliament to pass these bills earlier, to enable it to land the deal with the IMF by the end of last year, but that could not happen.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who had traveled to China to hold meetings on Ghana’s external debt restructuring, was in Parliament last Friday and sat throughout the sitting.
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