E-levy brawl: Meet via Zoom, operate from your constituencies – PNC tell MPs

The People’s National Convention (PNC) has called on the National Peace Council, the National House of Chiefs, the clergy and the imams to campaign for parliamentarians to be relocated to their various constituencies where offices will be put up for them and conduct parliamentary business remotely via Zoom.

The move, it noted that will reduce the number of times they meet physically on the floor of parliament to conduct legislative business and, by so doing, avoid excesses such as the trading of blows as happened on the floor of the house on Monday night.

In the view of the PNC, it will not only end up developing the constituencies but also prevent future wrestling episodes in parliament.

The suggestion comes after the lawmakers traded blows among themselves on Monday night while deliberating over the 1.75% e-levy proposed by the government.

The PNC also said it is worried that the legislature, in recent times, is turning into a house of shame.

It said the “pursuit of their parochial partisan desires over the interest of the nation is very injurious to the growth of our democracy and the development of the nation as a whole”.

“In no circumstance should a house of about 30 years of existence and a house governed by laws be seen to be playing around its own rules in this shameful manner,” the PNC noted in a Christmas statement signed by its General Secretary Janet Nabla.

The party called on the legislature “to respect its own rules even in their disagreement.”

The PNC suggested that both sides meet each other halfway in their deliberations and consider a reduction of the 1.75% levy to 0.75% or 1%.

The party prayed that Ghana becomes prosperous in the coming New Year and beyond while wishing the Christian community a happy Christmas and the entire nation a prosperous New Year.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its Minority are against the introduction of the 1.75 per cent levy, which will affect electronic transactions, as contained in the government’s 2022 budget statement.

Several calls on the government to drop the proposed tax has fallen on deaf ears.

The government has explained that the upsurge in the use of e-payment platforms, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been an impetus for the introduction of the levy.

As a result, Ghana recorded a total of GHS500 billion from e-transactions in 2020 compared with GHS78 billion in 2016.

The government says e-levy proceeds will be used to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, and digital and road infrastructure, among others.

Source: Modern Ghana