You need us even if you call us names – Haruna Iddrisu fires Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu
Despite name-calling, the Minority group in Ghana’s Parliament has responded to the Majority in Parliament and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo by saying that they will still require NDC legislators to push their proposals through in Parliament.
On Tuesday, January 25, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu who is the Member of Parliament for Tamale South disclosed on TV3’s New Day with Johnnie Hughes that opposition lawmakers had been subjected to vilification and harassment as a result of their resistance to several of the government’s policy ideas, notably the E-levy.
“You don’t secure or procure cooperation through bullying, intimidation coercion or vilification or insults,” he mentioned.
He added, “They need us, even if they call us names, they need us,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has also advised Members of Parliament that the only way out in getting things done in the House is through dialogue and consultation.
Given the situation of the 8th Parliament, where the two major parties hold 137-137 seats each with an Independent Lawmaker, he also urged for more cooperation and collaboration among parliamentarians.
“The only way is to get the two sides to consult and to dialogue with each other, to cooperate, to compromise, to collaborate to achieve consensus, this is an imperative imposed on us political leaders by the people of Ghana, we have no choice,” he said.
Mr. Bagbin made these remarks during a training hosted by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association this year.
His remarks come in the wake of a parliamentary split on the E-levy proposal in the 2022 budget statement.
It should be remembered that the proposed E-levy was rejected by the Parliamentary Minority. The E-levy policy, according to the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, is a deterrent to the expansion of the digital sector.
As a result, he stated, the Minority would oppose it.
“Mr Speaker, obviously, we see that the Minister of Finance aims to introduce several measures, including the now commonly declared E-levy or digital levy as some have properly dubbed it,” he stated during a post-budget workshop in Ho on Saturday, November 20, 2021.
“Mr Speaker, our concern is whether the e-levy itself is not and will not be a disincentive to the growth of digital economy in our country. We are convinced that the e-levy may as well even be a disincentive to investment and a disincentive to private sector development in our country. We in the minority may not and will not support government with the introduction of that particular E-levy. We are unable to build national consensus on that particular matter.”
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
