Parliament resumes sitting today: E-Levy still high on agenda
Parliament is expected to resume sitting this week from Tuesday, February 1, 2022 to Friday, February 4, 2002.
According to the Leader of the House, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Business Committee of Parliament has scheduled five ministers, namely the Ministers of Health; Education; Lands and Natural Resources; Food and Agriculture; and Roads and Highways, to appear before Parliament during the week to answer a total of 45 questions.
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The breakdown of the questions are three urgent and 42 oral.
Statements will also be made with papers laid and reports presented to the House during the week.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, while presenting the business statement to Parliament last Friday, January 28, 2021, also urged the various committees of Parliament with referrals of issues raised on the floor of the House to expedite work on same for the consideration of the House.
E-Levy
Key among the motions that will come before the House for second and third readings are the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) Bill, 2021, Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2021, and the Student Loan Trust Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The House, during sitting this week, will also adopt the report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Public Debt Management report for the 2020 financial year and on the collection and utilisation of the African Union Import Levy for the 2020 fiscal year.
However, the E-Levy will be one of the issues that will engage the attention of Parliament. Once the budget and the appropriation have been passed, what is left is the revenue to help deal with the expenditure.
Therefore, the E-Levy is an important legislation that will help government raise the needed revenue that is expected to be used to tackle issues in the road sector and youth unemployment.
The E-Levy bill came up for consideration on Friday, January 28, 2021 but could not go through the various consideration stages in Parliament, hence this week it shall feature prominently on the agenda of the House.
Expectations
The Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in a press conference last Friday, expressed optimism that a consensus would be reached in the coming days for the E-Levy to be passed.
However, the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr James Klutse Avedzi, also in a press conference last Friday, said the Minority was still opposed to the bill.
The House, after the debate on the E-Levy, is expected to vote, and with both sides of the House having 137 members each, if all members are present and vote, there is going to be a tie.
When it happens that way, according to Article 104 of the Constitution, it means that the motion on the E-Levy is lost and that will be the end unless it is reintroduced.
To avoid this situation, the Majority has to marshal all its members in the House to vote to pass the bill.
Speaker's absence
Although there is yet to be an official communication about the travel of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, to continue with his medical treatment abroad, information picked by the Daily Graphic indicates that the Speaker is not within the jurisdiction of the country to preside this week.
If that happens, the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, who is also the MP for Bekwai and member of the Majority side, must sit in the chair and preside, thus reducing the numerical strength of the Majority in Parliament to 136. However, with the independent MP for Fomena and Second Deputy Speaker, Mr Andrews Asiamah Amoako, siding with the Majority, it will bring their number to 137, which will be a tie when it comes to voting on the E-Levy.
Mr Avedzi, who is also the MP for Ketu North, commenting on the issue during his interaction with the media last Friday, advised the Majority side to delay the E-Levy bill until the Speaker returns from his travel for medical treatment.
“When the Speaker presides then we vote on the matter, and once that is done, the end result will be the decision of the House and with this, the Majority can carry the day or the motion will be lost completely," he stated.
“They want the Speaker to be there to preside and they do not want any of the deputies to sit so that what happened on December 20 last year does not repeat itself," he said.
Enforcement of COVID-19 mandatory policy
It is expected that Parliament will this week enforce the mandatory COVID-19 policy of “No Vaccination No Entry" within the precincts of Parliament after the booster vaccination ended last Friday.
The Speaker announced during the sitting of the House last Tuesday that “henceforth, members, staff and ancillary staff will be required to show proof of vaccination before being allowed into any office within the precincts of Parliament".
“After the vaccination exercise, any member, staff and ancillary staff who fails to take the booster jab will be denied access to Parliament," he added.
This followed the end of a COVID-19 booster vaccination exercise for MPs, staff, ancillary staff and members of their families.
The exercise began on Saturday, January 22 and ended on Friday, January 28, 2022.
SONA
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also announced to the House that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was expected to present the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament on February 24, 2022.
The State of the Nation Address (SONA), also known as SONA, is an annual address to Parliament given by the President of the Republic covering the economic, social and financial state of the country, according to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution.
Article 67 of the Constitution says the President should give the State of the Nation Address at the beginning and close of every parliamentary session.