Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah, has stated that the Majority in Parliament may not need the consent of the Minority to pass the Electronic Transactions Levy bill into law.

In an interview with JoyNews ahead of Parliament’s resumption, he revealed that government is determined and will go ahead to the e-levy should the NDC MPs hold on to their entrenched position.

“As much as we are negotiating, we also want to send a clear signal that government will go ahead; the Majority side is prepared to pass the e-levy.”

“The assurance we want to give on the part of the Majority caucus is that we are equally determined that when Parliament resumes,” he said.

He blamed members of the Minority group for their continued opposition to the e-levy bill.

The Ejisu lawmaker noted that they were hopeful of building a consensus with the Minority, “but it appears the political stance is firm, and they are not in any position to negotiate or to bring down their stance on the e-levy.”

Meanwhile, Dr John Kumah revealed that the bill may not necessarily be put before the House in the first week of its resumption as the Finance Minister tries to build consensus on both sides.

“Business of the House is always determined on the first day when we meet; the Business Committee will have to meet and set the business agenda for the week so until that is done, I cannot definitely say that tomorrow [today] we are going to go strictly on the E-levy.”

“I believe Ken Ofori-Atta is still seeking to engage the Minority and all the necessary stakeholders ahead of the vote. We may see the first week of Parliament resumption on further engagements and not to push anything,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has urged the leadership of the Majority caucus to prioritise consultations in their decision-making processes with regard to business of the House.

Mr. Alban Bagbin noted that this is the only way the activities in the legislature will run smoothly.

“The only way is to get the two sides to consult and to dialogue with each other, to cooperate, to compromise, to collaborate to achieve consensus, this is an imperative imposed on us political leaders by the people of Ghana, we have no choice,” he said on Monday.