SC hears application to stop E-Levy implementation May 4
The legal tussle over implementation of Electronic Transfer Bill 2022, is far from over as, the Supreme Court (SC) has fixed May 4, 2022, to hear an interlocutory injunction application seeking to stop the implementation of the levy on May 1, 2022.
Mr Godwin EdudziKudzoTameklo, counsel for three National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs), who filed the motion to restrain the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), would move the motion to injunct the GRA on May 4.
Minority in Parliament has urged the SC to declare the passage of the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill 202, (E-Levy) as unconstitutional.
The NDC MPs, Messrs Haruna Iddrisu, Majority Leader and MP for Tamale South, Samuel OkudzetoAblakwa, MP for North Tongu and MahamaAyariga, MP for Bawku Central, sued the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice (A-G) over the passage of the bill into law on March 29, 2022.
In the suit signed and filed by MrTameklo, the plaintiffs’ asked the apex court to declare that on the authority of the SC case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, dated March 9, 2022, the constitutional quorum for decision-making and voting in Parliament within the meaning and intent of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution is 138 Members of Parliament present in the Chamber of Parliament out of the 275 Members of Parliament; and not 136 Members ofParliament present in the Chamber of Parliament.
The plaintiffs asked for a declaration that in accordance with Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and on the authority of the Supreme Court case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, when the Speaker of Parliament put the question for the second reading of the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill, 2021, Parliament lacked the required quorum ‘to vote on the motion before the House.
They want the court to hold that the purported vote on the motion for the second reading of the Electronic Levy Transfer Levy Bill, 2021 by the 136 Members of Parliament was in contravention of Article 104(1) and therefore null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
A declaration that in accordance with Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and on the authority of the recent SC case when the Speaker of Parliament put the question for the Consideration of the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill, 2021 to the house, Parliament lacked the required quorum to vote on each clause of the Electronic Transfer Bill, 2021 before the House.
The MPs appealed to the SC to declare that on account of relief (d), the purported vote by the 136 MPs on each clause of the Electronic Transfer Bill, 2021, was in contravention of Article 104(1), and therefore null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
