E-Levy Passage: Here’s how this NDC MP was ‘tricked’ into nearly absenting himself from parliament

E-Levy finally passed

Akufo-Addo assents to E-Levy bill

The Member of Parliament for Akatsi South, on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Ahiafor, has narrated how he nearly missed the proceedings in parliament on the day the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) was passed, due to a near deceitful move by an MP on the Majority side.

He explained that had it not been for his smartness and divine intervention, he would have easily missed out on being in parliament on the day of the E-Levy passage.

Although the Minority MPs had made attempts at blocking the passage of the E-Levy, the Majority had its way on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, after the former staged a walkout from the House.

Speaking to the media on the day the E-Levy was passed, Bernard Ahiafor said that he, together with the Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament were supposed to have met in France for a meeting.

This, he added, was at the instance of the Chairman but unknown to him, he was going to embark on that trip alone, and only after he found out minutes to a connecting flight in Amsterdam that he might just have fallen for a big trick.

“I travelled on Sunday. I was supposed to be part of the African Caribbean European Union Parliament; I am Ghana’s representative in that parliament so I traveled. I was supposed to travel with the Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, and I’m the Ranking Member. We were supposed to meet in Amsterdam and connect a flight to Strasbourg exactly at 8:30. So, I got to Amsterdam at 6:45, waiting for the flight to be connected. So, he was supposed to be part of us.

“At 8 O’clock, I realized that he was not there and all attempts to reach him on phone was to no avail. 10 minutes to the connection of the flight, I receive a message that he wouldn’t be in France until Wednesday so, I needed to be smart. So, I asked the question through WhatsApp: why are we not meeting here? why would you be in Strasbourg on Wednesday?

“So, I decided to call home to see what was the issue. There, I got to know that the E-Levy is coming on today. So, I had to do a U-turn – it was not easy but by God’s intervention, I got here this morning and I was able to come to parliament to be part of the proceedings,” he said.

Probed further on whether or not he felt tricked by that incident, he said he prefers to leave it to the open judgement of the general public.

“Well, the devil doesn’t even know the intentions of a man so I wouldn’t know their intention. So, I will leave that to the general public to determine,” he said.

It would be recalled that especially for this Eighth Parliament, owing to its hung nature (MPs split equally on both ends of the House), there has always been an issue of numbers and representation in the House with respect to votes on bills and other documents that come to the House.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has since given his assent to the E-Levy bill, making it a law now.