Parliament has approved the Customs Amendment Bill 2017 that will allow for the removal of import duty on vehicular spare parts.

The bill was passed after a protracted debate, with the minority insisting the bill is unconstitutional and a breach of the ECOWAS treaty.

They also questioned why government did not remove all duties on spare parts as promised in the 2017 budget statement.

Deputy Minority Leader James Avedzi said the move will only benefit spare part importers and not the ordinary Ghanaian.

“The government must ensure that you are reducing the duty on the parts. As the importers enjoy the reduction in duties they must reduce the prices of the parts but there is no mechanism to ensure that.

“They will go and get the reduction, enrich their pockets but they will not reduce the prices of the parts," he said.

He added if the buyers will not benefit from the reduction, then there is no point in implementing the policy.

The protest by the Minority follows a major policy announcement by the government to reduce taxes and duties it described as nuisance.

As part of the 2017 budget statement that was read on the floor, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta announced that import duties had been removed on spare parts a major policy decision which got spare parts dealers at Abossey Okai in Accra and other parts of the country jubilating.

Despite passing the budget, there was the need to amend the country’s laws to allow for the import duties on the spare parts to be removed.

With the law amended and the duties removed it is yet to be seen if the prices of spare parts will reduce.