Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has rubbished the allegations made by the Minority Caucus in Parliament against the Speaker, Alban Bagbin for allowing the passage of the E-Levy.
The minority claims that the passage of the e-levy is illegal because there was no quorum in the House for the bill to be passed.
According to Annoh-Dompreh, the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, is an astute legislator and will never make the error of wrongly passing the E-Levy, and to that effect, the Majority Caucus followed the right procedures, and the question of a quorum never arose during the passage of the bill.
The Nsawam/Adoagyiri lawmaker comments followed the National Democratic Congress members in Parliament, filing a suit at the Supreme Court against the passage of the bill.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has indicated that the passage of the bill was illegal, citing the lack of quorum.
According to the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, “the House did not have the numbers to decide on the passage of the bill, for which reason I believe the recent Supreme Court ruling has been violated. The House had less than 137 in the chamber. They only proceeded in illegal business’’.
The NDC MPs, taking on the Speaker led by the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim on Thursday blasted the Speaker of Parliament, S.K. Bagbin for turning a blind eye by not ensuring the rules of the floor were brought to bear during the Majority’s one-sided approval of the controversial E-levy.
He further accused the Speaker of betraying their course in the one-sided approval of the E-levy, adding that the Speaker should have instructed the Clerk of Parliament to call for a headcount when the Minority walked out on the passage of the E-levy.
Mr. Ibrahim explained that in the same scenario, when the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu assumed the seat to overturn what the Minority did with the Speaker presiding, he (the First Deputy Speaker) instructed the Clerk of Parliament to call for a headcount and counted himself to satisfy himself they have formed a quorum to pass the 2022 budget.
However, Frank Annoh-Dompreh reacting to the issues on the radio, explained that “Nobody is going to stop them (Minority); they don’t even have to give us notice; they should hurry up and go to the Supreme Court. But, from our side, when we look at the Standing Orders of Parliament and the things that transpired yesterday, the passage of the levy was legal’’.
According to him, “The speaker is a seasoned politician, a lawyer, and a legislator, and based on recent happening in the House; he will not make that mistake (of wrongfully passing the E-Levy). The question of a quorum never arose at all. If you are aggrieved, the Supreme Court is there, but we have done what is necessary’’.
He added that “…if you fight with someone and you beat the person, the only thing the person does is complain. I listened to my respected friend, the minority leader, and very untypical of him, he was fumbling.”
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri indicated that the next stage is for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to assent to the bill for it to become a law.
“The E-Levy was read the 3rd time and has been passed… like any other bill, if the president assents the E-Levy, then it will become a law,” he said.
–BY Daniel Bampoe