The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has stated that the Akufo-Addo led administration seems to be overly-fixated on matters concerning the E-levy to the detriment of other issues that are affecting the country.

According to him, the fixation on the e-levy might stem from the government’s mindset that without it not much would be achieved.

“And that is drawing us back, holding the whole country to ransom and we cannot continue that way,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express, Monday.

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that the government’s e-levy cross-country town hall meetings have since its inception drawn more Members of Parliament who double as Ministers from Parliament thus negatively affecting Parliamentary business.

“If you consider the fact that you have a good number of MPs who are also Ministers accompanying the Finance Minister across the length and breadth of this country holding town hall meetings, trying to get the people of Ghana to appreciate their perspective and to come along on the E-levy.

“At a time that Parliament is sitting and sometimes struggling to get the quorum and yet when probably meetings are adjourned and we look at the news for the day and you bring to us footage from those town halls and we see quite a good number of our colleagues who are also Ministers of State accompanying the Finance Minister on those town halls across the country it tells you that government itself seems to have a priority, a certain fixation on the E-levy.

“They think that for now all other things can wait and that is clearly a contributing factor; that’s why Parliament has been made to bear the brunt,” he bemoaned.

He was, however, optimistic that with Parliament now being a hung one, it would be able to free itself from the Executive’s lethargy once the House fully taps into that potential.

He is hopeful that through Private Member Bills and the Speaker asserting his full authority, Parliament would be able to set the agenda for the Executive to catch up.

This would thus translate into the addressing of important topics such as the high rate of youth unemployment in the country, security risks in the sub-region and the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its impact on food security and the economy of Ghana, among others.

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee noted that should Parliament fully embrace its potential, there could be actionable steps to address these problems while the Executive catches up later.

“Yes, I agree that government drives government business but looking at how government itself has been lethargic; government has just the one-item priority, so much fixation on the E-levy, when there are so many other things to look at.

“Look, I’ve been reading the Population and Housing Census [report] copiously. We must be worried about youth unemployment which has almost tripled. More than 1.5 million of our youth are unemployed. The last time a census was done in 2010, it was hovering around 5%, now it is 13.4%. We must be concerned about that. The age category of 15- 24 year olds is about 38%.

“If you look at the number of our people in abject poverty who are living in ramshackle structures, wooden structures, metal structures…those are the matters that must engage us and we’re having all of these matters put at the backburner, nobody is giving them attention at all and the whole fixation has been on E-levy,” he said.

“Even the security situation in the sub region, as Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee I am deeply frightened. I mean, Burkina Faso is gone, Mali is gone, you have these violent exchanges, these terrorists how are we coming together in a bipartisan effort to retool our security services to make sure that they stand in readiness to protect all of us.

“So they’re major, major issues. Look the conflict in Ukraine that invasion and what it’s doing to global economy, the security implications; you have the Russians helping us, the Vagnar group, you have Ukraine sending troops to Mali, Sudan. The food security implication, Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat.

“We should be discussing all of these matters and how strategically we can position our country to as it were minimize the impact, all of these things are just lost on us and the whole fixation has been E-levy,” he added.

“So I think that the time has come for the Right Honourable Speaker to assert his authority. Yes the tradition has been that government takes the lead, government sets the agenda, government moves. Fortunately, in the area of Private Member’s Bill, we’re seeing that this Speaker right from the Prof. Mike Ocquaye era they have been more forward looking about Private Members’ agenda.

“I think that they should get bolder and they should just encourage Members of Parliament to set the agenda and let’s move forward, at some point I expect the executive arm to come along,” he concluded.