Akufo-Addo will assent to E-levy law soon – Majority Leader
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will sign into law the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) policy document later this week.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, at a press conference on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Parliament approved the bill after amending portions of the document on Tuesday, despite a walkout staged by the Minority Caucus.
“President [Nana] Akufo-Addo will assent to the bill as soon as possible,” he said, while answering questions posed to him by journalists at the press conference.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that a parliamentary committee is supposed to fine-tune the approved bill to ensure that all the necessary clauses are properly captured before the policy document is presented to the president for his approval.
“Today [Tuesday] because of the [Black Stars] match, I’m not sure that the committee can meet. I’m sure in the course of the week, it will be ready for the President’s assent,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister added.
The E-levy law has witnessed a long rejection from the Minority group in parliament and some stakeholders in the telecommunications space, but the government insisted the bill will restore confidence in the economy.
After the bill was presented to Parliament under the certificate of urgency, some months back, Minority and Majority MPs took turns to debate on the subject with the usual entrenched positions.
During the second reading on Tuesday, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, noted that his side will have nothing to do with E-levy in any form or shape.
The Minority then staged a walkout in protest, but that gave the Majority the upper hand to duly undertake the second and third reading of the bill and subsequently passed it into law.
When assented to by the president, the Electronic Transfer law will become a law that binds every electronic money transaction to attract a 1.5% charge.
Source: Citinewsroom
