The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has noted that since the Supreme Court did not make any reservations on the funds that will be collected
Read full articlefrom the E-Levy, government can begin spending the funds for its intended cause.
The constitutionality of the implementation of the E-Levy is currently being contested in court as the minority in parliament says the bill was passed at a time there was no quorum in parliament.
According to the Attorney General, the government needs the revenue thus will not hesitate to spend it.
Speaking to journalists after the Supreme Court dismissed an injunction against the implementation of the E-Levy, on Wednesday, he said, “The Court indicated that the injunction is dismissed, meaning there is nothing preventing GRA from collecting the revenue in the first place. Secondly, there is no order made by the Court directing how the revenue collected today should be disbursed.
“So, government is free to utilise the revenue for its developmental activities and for the various projects that it has promised the people of Ghana,” he said.
The Supreme Court in a 7-0 decision on May 4 dismissed the application for an injunction against the implementation of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).
The apex court has also asked the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to preserve the records generated since the levy’s implementation on May 1, 2022, in case it is later determined that the levy was passed unconstitutionally.
Yeboah Dame however stated that claims by the NDC are mere propaganda that should be ignored.
“You saw what happened in court today. It was an embarrassing spectacle. The lawyer clearly was not able to demonstrate any form of irregularities with proceedings in Parliament. The court asked him, so is there any record that indicates that X number of MPs walked out at a certain stage?
“He obviously said no, there was no evidence indicating whether there was a headcount of a number of MPs present in Parliament who voted to support the bill. There was also nothing indicated by the lawyer which suggests there was a walkout of X number of MPs, so I think we should ignore all that propaganda,” he said.
Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice
