No secret vote on E-levy because we don’t trust some NDC MPs – Murtala

Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed has said that the Minority in Parliament does not want secret voting done on the E-levy because they do not trust some of the National Democratic Congresss (NDC) lawmakers to vote against the policy proposal.

He said the mistrust is as a result of events that characterized the vetting and approval of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees where all the nominees were eventually approved despite reservations raised against some.

Speaking on the Sunrise show on 3FM with Alfred Ocansey on Tuesday February 1, Murtala said “Afenyo-Markin is my very good friend, he is a fantastic young man and very intelligent. So far, he has been doing very well. I think the problem with the NPP is not Afenyo and Annor-Dompreh, it is Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu.

“He is the contributor of 90 per cent of the problems that they have in the chamber. He is not a team player and some of the NPP MPs will tell you he is the problem.

“I have had a senior Member of the Parliament from the NPP who told me that we shouldn’t pass the E-levy but they can’t come out to say it.

“If voting on the E-levy were to be done secretly, I can bet my last penny that there will be a lot of NPP MPs who will vote against it. The only reason we don’t want that also is that some of our members, we can’t also trust them, to be very honest. We can’t trust them because of what happened in the appointment of the Ministers , it was soo hurting and we can’t trust some of them,” he said.

The Minority in Parliament has asked the Majority to wait for Speaker Alban Bagbin to return from his trip outside of the jurisdiction before they re-lay the E-Levy in Parliament.

Deputy Minority leader, James Klutse Avedzi said the Minority does not want any of the deputies to preside over the House when the levy is relayed in order to avert the brawls that occurred in the house last year.

“The speaker travels this weekend and will not be available next week , I think our advise to the Majority side is that we should wait until the speaker comes back.

“We want the speaker to preside then we will vote on the matter and once that is done, the end result will be a decision of the House whether the motion would be lost or completely or would be carried, that is something that would be done.

“But we want the speaker to be there we don’t want any of the deputies to sit so that what happened in 2021 should repeat itself.”

The much-anticipated consideration of the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill, popularly known as e-levy, has been postponed to the next sitting of Parliament.

Despite attempts by the Majority Caucus to get the Bill read for the second and third times, the House took a decision to adjourn sitting to Tuesday, February 1.

The Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who had been in the precincts of Parliament since morning, had to leave around 5:00pm because there were no signs members were ready to consider passage of the Bill.

Though the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, had announced passage of the Bill on Friday even if it went deep into the night, it appears his opposite number was not in favour of it.