The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem North, Andy Appiah-Kubi, has revealed that Parliament would have unanimously passed the e-levy bill if it was reduced to 1% instead of the operational 1.5%.
According to him, both majority and minority caucuses agreed on the number but the Finance Minister insisted on his initial 1.75% proposal before later bringing it down to 1.5%.
Appiah-Kubi said his refusal to listen to Parliamentary advice led to a prolonged partisan battle to pass the bill in the house, delayed its passage and ended up making it immensely unpopular.
Appiah-Kubi, who is one of the MPs calling for Ofori-Atta’s dismissal, made his points during an interview on Oyerepa Fm to emphasise the stubborn nature of the Finance Minister.
“The thing is that if you want to evaluate a process you should not be partial with it…we had the E-Levy discussion at Ho, and we (the NPP MPs) were of the view that the 1.75 (percent) rate was too high and it will meet public resistance; so it should be reduced.
“We all agreed that if it was brought to 1 percent both the minority and the majority will agree and approve. And we will be able to collectively market it to the acceptance of the stakeholders. The intransigent at that ministry that exists till date is what brought the fights on the E-Levy,” he revealed.
Appiah-Kubi added: “After some time, he (Ofori-Atta) said he had reduced the rate to 1.5 percent but the 1.5 was still not feasible. But he continued to give us hope that we can deliver with the 1.5…This guy does not listen to anyone. So, the minority rejected the levy in Parliament because there was no consensus and this is what characterised our debate to the point it got to. Was it necessary?” he queried.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com