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The Minority in parliament says they will vote against the E-levy in parliament if government does not come clear with its revision on issues of the E-levy on the floor of parliament.

According to the minority, the Finance Minister has still not presented to the House details of the revision of the E-levy.

Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, Member of Parliament(MP) for Banda constituency who doubles as the deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim explained that the Finance Minister has refused to provide the House with details of what government has agreed to with the revision of the E-levy which has become subject of discussion at the committee level.

"If they think they can smuggle the E-levy on the blind side of the minority and cause it to be accepted, then they are wrong. I can assure that we in the minority will vote against it," he said.

"The Finance Minister has refused to present to the House full details of his report especially on the E-levy at the committee level for discussion. We in the minority can assure him that we will reject it if he continues to dilly-dally with us on the E-levy. Ghanaians deserve better," he added.

E-Levy

The Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, however, noted that the government and the Minority were yet to reach consensus on the electronic transactions levy (E-Levy), which announcement on November 17 generated heated controversies in and outside Parliament.

The Minister expressed optimism that the various concessions reached, which had been communicated to Parliament, would pave the way for the relevant committees of Parliament to reflect on the modifications in the 2022 Budget, as well as begin considering the various estimates of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Although Mr Ofori-Atta did not say what the government was prepared to trade-off with regard to the introduction of the E-Levy, he said it was confident that a consensus would be reached between both sides for the Appropriation Bill of 2022 to be passed before Parliament rose on December 17.

The budget was rejected by Parliament on Friday, November 26, this year, before it was approved on Tuesday, November 30, this year.

The controversy that surrounded the 2022 Budget bothered on concerns by the Minority on the Agyapa Royalties deal, the Aker Energy transaction, the lack of budgetary allocations to victims of the Keta tidal wave disaster, the E-Levy and the proposed reversal of the 50 per cent discount policy on the benchmark values.

Ghana needs the 2022 Appropriation Bill to be passed before the end of the year to ensure that public spending continues uninterrupted.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the national budget remained the single most effective tool to address the greatest challenges of the nation.

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