Bagbin ‘hires’ Akufo-Addo’s ‘citizens and not spectators’ to make a point

Parliament reconvenes after last recess

Alban Bagbin addresses parliament for the first time in 2022

E-Levy will not feature in 2022 sitting, Majority indicates

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has adopted the popular clarion call of President Nana Addo

Read full article.Dankwa Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians to be citizens rather than mere spectators.

The Speaker was addressing the House at its first sitting of the year when he made the comments.

“I once again call on Ghanaians to know that democracy is not a determinant of just politicians and officials in government but a collective product of the leadership of the political, social, private and academia, in collaboration with the people. this is how democratic societies are created.

“And I’m happy that’s the call of His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that we should not just be spectators but citizens, is the right call, and that must be taken seriously,” he said.

The eighth of Ghana’s parliament is back from its last recess, continuing from where it left off in December.

Before the break, the House was split on decisions regarding portions of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as presented to it by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Among others, there were a number of bills that the House was considering and while the past year was one that was characterized by a number of chaotic scenes in Parliament, it is expected that this sitting would redress all the bottlenecks that were experienced then.

Contrary to the expectation that once the parliament resumes for the first sitting of the new year, the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy [E-levy] Bill, will be re-introduced to the House by the Finance Ministry, that expectation is unlikely.

This won’t come on because, at parliament’s most recent business committee meeting, the government of Ghana failed to present the E-levy bill to the MPs for its subsequent reintroduction.

This was revealed by, Ahmed Ibrahim, the Deputy Minority Whip and MP for Banda during an interview on Joy News on Monday, January 24.