The Minority in Parliament has filed an application at the Supreme Court to place an injunction on the implementation of Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), which received presidential assent to take effect on May 1.
The Minority Caucus was represented by Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu, and filed the application yesterday, April 19, 2022 at 12:25pm.
The Apex Court has scheduled the hearing of the case to May 4, three days after the levy has taken effect.
In the nine-page application, the Minority leadership are seeking that the Apex Court make an order of interlocutory injunction to restrain the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and its privies, assigns, officers and agents or any other person, from commencing with the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy on the set date until the final determination of the case.
This was as the Minority had earlier applied to the Supreme Court to seek a constitutional interpretation on the quorum required for decision-making and voting in Parliament, in reference to Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution.
According to the Minority, per the court’s decision on the case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, dated March 9, 2022, there must be a quorum of 138 Members of Parliament present in the Chamber of Parliament, out of the 275 Members, before a decision or vote could be take place.
It is, therefore, the case of the Minority that at the time when the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, put the question for the second reading of the Electronic Transaction Levy Bill, 2021, on March 29, 2022, Parliament lacked the required quorum to vote on the motion before the House, thus only 136 Members of Parliament were present in the Chamber of Parliament.
The Minority is seeking, among other things, that the court makes a further declaration in connection with its earlier decision on the purported vote on the motion for the second reading of the Electronic Transaction Levy Bill, 2021 by the 136 Members of Parliament that it is in contravention of Article 104(1), and, therefore, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
The plaintiff further wanted the court to declare the Third Reading and subsequent passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy Bill, 2021, null, void and of no effect, and in contravention of Article 104(1) of the Constitution.
According to them, the highest court of the land should set aside the purported passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy Bill, 2021, by the 136 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in the Chamber of Parliament on March 29, 2022, as being unconstitutional, null and void.
They also argued that “unless the Ghana Revenue Authority is restrained, irreparable harm would be occasioned to the plaintiffs, and also to millions of citizens of Ghana and all other persons in Ghana on the basis that if the Honourable Court nullifies the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy Act, 2022 (Act 1075), the Government of Ghana would not be in the position to reimburse all the moneys paid by the millions of citizens of Ghana, and all other persons.
“This will lead to the unfortunate situation of Government of Ghana unjustly enriching itself on the basis of an illegality at the expense of the citizens of Ghana and all other persons in Ghana.”
