Despite one of the Majority side MPs being absent due to an accident, according to Speaker of the House Alban Bagbin, nothing improper occurred in the passage of the new tax laws.
On his way to participate in a vote on the new tax bills put before parliament, MP for Nanton Mohammed Hardi Tuferu was in an accident.
The Speaker claims that by including Mr. Hardi Tuferu in the headcounts that were conducted on the floor of parliament, he has done nothing improper.
“Members who are incapacitated shall upon reporting their incapacity to the Speaker through the Clerk shall be recorded. We have some of our members that are incapacitated and what I did was to ask the Whips to go and physically see them to assess their incapacitation and whether they are of sound mind.”
Despite the unfortunate incident, the lawmaker was helped to participate in the activity by his fellow members of the majority caucus before being taken to the hospital.
As the MP was being taken to the house in an ambulance, the Speaker gave instructions to the Whips on both sides of the house to explain the circumstances.
Speaker Alban Bagbin outlined the procedures and the rationale for counting the lawmaker’s vote.
According to the results of the headcount votes, 137 members of the majority caucus and 136 members of the minority caucus respectively voted in favor of the new tax bills.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill 2022, the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022 have all been approved by parliament.
The bills are essential in helping the government hasten the board’s approval of the $3 billion staff-level agreement for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Program.
The minority in Parliament had previously expressed opposition to the bills.
A bold declaration to the government that it cannot be careless with its spending and expect Ghanaians to foot the bill was made by the minority member George Ricketts-Hagan.
