Approval of revenue bills: We’re grateful to Ato Forson and his team – Annoh-Dompreh

Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has thanked the Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and the entire Minority for supporting the government in approving the three revenue bills.

After the passage, he said in a tweet on Saturday that “Parliament rose this morning on a successful note: all critical businesses were duly executed as planned & many others. The majority is grateful and commends its membership.

“We are also grateful to the minority leader & his team, wishing them well in their Primaries.”

Parliament has by a 137-136 majority decision passed the three revenue bills on Friday, March 31.

The bills are the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill.

The government is seeking to generate approximately GH¢4 billion per year to supplement domestic revenue.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta earlier appealed to Parliament to pass the three bills to help in facilitating the deal that Ghana is seeking under the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking at a forum in Accra on Thursday, March 30, he said “Our Parliament, in the national interest, will pass these bills before the close of the week and it will not be seen as disloyalty to anyone party. So if I may be permitted to use the word fellow Ghanaians,  we are a blessed nation…I am more convinced now than ever that we are a blessed nation.

“A week ago I was in China to meet their Finance Minister and various institutions about support for an IMF programme and the Lord certainly went ahead of us.

“Ghana is a big country, and the Minister of Finance is a big man but the Minister of Finance of China gave us the Ghana delegation almost an hour and a half conversation. Not only did he do that he also called the chairman of the Exim Bank of China to join him to talk through these ways in which they can facilitate to make sure we get our IMF transaction.

“So indeed America is ready for us,  we saw Kamala Harris here, Germany has been here, the Europeans are behind us, the Fund is behind us. It is left with our Parliament. It can’t be that we shoot ourselves in the foot. Let us rally behind our Parliamentarians.”