A constitutional lawyer, Justice Srem-Sai, has highlighted several instances that he believes may explain why the Cabinet might ignore the output of the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, regarding the introduction of various taxes, including the E-levy.
According to the renowned private legal practitioner and law lecturer, there are four possible reasons why the Cabinet might completely dismiss the decisions of the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Srem-Sai stated that “There are 4 reasons why your opposition to a new government policy will be overruled at Cabinet, when you oppose merely for opposing sake – without any alternative at all. You’ll definitely be overruled. When you oppose with an alternative but the alternative doesn’t make practical sense, or is not viable under the circumstances. You’ll be overruled”.
He continued, “When your previous ideas have failed to work and, as a result, your Cabinet-mates lose confidence in you. By all means, you’ll be overruled. When other members of Cabinet have an extremely poor judgment, and are unable to recognize good ideas from bad. They’ll overrule you”.
“Now, Dr Bawumia says that he opposed his government’s decision to impose some taxes, but was overruled at Cabinet. Which reason was it?” Dr. Srem-Sai asked rhetorically.
Dr. Bawumia, in a bid to exonerate himself from his government’s imposition of the E-levy, emission taxes, and other levies, explained that the economic management team does not have decision-making powers regarding these taxes. Throughout his campaign tours, the Vice President has promised to scrap some of these taxes that his government has imposed on Ghanaians.
In one of his messages, Dr. Bawumia said, “I was thankfully appointed as chairman of the economic management team. As a sub-committee to the cabinet, we do not have any decision-making powers but I am very proud of the quality of advice that we have been providing over the years to cabinet”.