The Minority in Parliament is pushing for a no e-levy debate in the absence of the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin.

This is because the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, has left the country for his third medical review in Dubai, a situation the Majority group said would frustrate government business.

On Friday, January 28, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs kicked against moves by the Majority to re-introduce the levy, citing time constraints.

Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, admonished government to halt the reconsideration, arguing the opposition NDC will resist any attempt by the two Deputy Speakers to participate during the voting on the controversial policy.

“The Speaker is having his medical treatment; we should give him the benefit of the doubt, he must treat himself because we need him. Our advice to the Majority side is that we should wait until when the Speaker comes back; we want the Speaker to preside then we’d vote on the matter.”

“Whether the motion will be lost completely or will be carried, that is something that will be done after. We want the Speaker to be there, we don’t want any of the deputies to preside, so that what happened in 2021 should repeat itself,” he told JoyNews in an interview.

The Majority side has said they will think through the available options to chart the way forward.

Deputy Majority Whip, Habib Iddris, says one option will be to discuss the substance of the E-levy and probably defer the question until the Speaker returns.

“Even the E-levy, the other thing is that we could debate the principle and defer the question until the Speaker is in. So, we will weigh our options but the main substance of the E-levy has actually not been discussed,” he said.