Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has condemned the recent brawl that ensued between the Majority and Minority factions in Parliament over the e-levy.

Speaking on Sunday, January 9, 2022, during the Probe, he stated that in a democracy, people might want to disagree with government decisions and express contrary views.

However, that should be done appropriately.

“It is okay that some persons have contrary views; in a democracy, you don’t expect 100% of views to congregate in one way. In fact, if all of us thought in the same way, this probably wouldn’t be a democracy.

"So it’s okay that nobody agrees to the methods that we intend to employ to raise revenue. What is important is that we handle that disagreement in a civil, mature, courteous manner,” he said.

 He, thus, entreated his colleague MPs to resort to dialogue in addressing issues when the House resumes the next sitting.

“Disagreements ought not to degenerate into blows and using of harmful implements to attack one another. That’s not a civilised democracy. And so, these disagreements have to be resolved by the force of reason and thoughts and arguments and by votes.

"So our expectation is that when Parliament resumes and the Speaker is the Chair so that we can go through the process of considering the e-levy and take a decision on it at the end of the day,” he said.

The e-levy is yet to be approved by Parliament. The last time the MPs sat to deliberate on the levy, the discussion degenerated into a brawl, leading to the sitting being adjourned.  

Giving an update on the current state of the e-levy, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said, “the levy is still on the tables.

“It is a matter that government is key to revenue mobilisation to help deal with the legitimate demands that Ghanaians are making,” he added.