Carlos Ahenkorah is MP for Tema West
Carlos Ahenkorah tested positive for Coronavirus
Tema West MP exposes electorates to Novel Coronavirus
The Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah, may not be one of those lawmakers known for being common faces in parliament, but the few times he has appeared in the media, he has always left something to talk about.
Infamous as he is, the MP has once again courted the anger of some social media users over his comments on the trending, yet controversial subject of the 1.75% Electronic Levy.
In this GhanaWeb listicle, we bring you three major times the MP has made headlines for the wrong reasons in the last two years.
Here they are:
Coronavirus Saga
At the peak of the Novel Coronavirus in Ghana, and while he was still the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industries, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, courted the anger of many people when he said that despite having tested positive for the virus, he defied safety protocols and went out into public to tour some registration centres.
He had done this to check on the process of the Electoral Commission’s registration exercise for new voter ID cards in the country.
“I decided to see how some of the centres were just operating. So, I stepped out into town a bit. It didn’t mean I couldn’t go out. My test results had shown I was positive a week ago and after one week, my doctors said I could step out,” he told Asempa FM.
“They [doctors] said I could go out, except that I needed to wear my mask and observe social distancing,” the lawmaker added.
He said he was “very careful” and “very mature about it”.
Snatching of Ballot Papers
On the morning of January 7, 2021, when the election of the Speaker of Parliament was going on, Carlos Ahenkorah did yet another unbelievable thing that would eventually set the House into another chaos.
Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, the Member of Parliament-elect for Tema West snatched some ballot papers during counting.
After the counting of votes for Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, the now former Speaker, was done, the MP for Tema West moved into a swift action, snatching the ballot papers from the Clerks-At-Table and bolted.
Prior to the snatching of the ballot papers, the NDC members were singing and jubilating that their Speaker-nominee, Alban Bagbin, had won the secret ballots.
Carlos Ahenkorah was however spontaneously chased down by the Minority Chip Whip and MP for Asawase, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, accosting him and retrieving the ballot papers.
Later, he explained the reason for taking such an action.
“The NDC came with a certain mind, a certain mindset and that is what they wanted to achieve and nothing was going to stop them. I realised that after the counting of the ballot papers, voting has been established and everything is finished. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the kind of support Muntaka got from his people…,” he said.
Comments on E-Levy
One of the most controversial details of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as presented by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government has been on the introduction of a 1.75% Electronic Levy that is expected to affect Mobile Money services.
With varied comments from all sides of the coin on this E-Levy, the MP for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah, who is also the Chairman of the Trades Committee of Parliament, waded into the conversation.
In a interview with the media, he stated that the tax is not for everybody and that if anyone wants to avoid this, they should not use Momo services.
“No human being or no person likes to pay tax but it is a known fact that taxes are generally appalled by people who are supposed to pay them. So, what is happening is quite understandable. But to the extent that it has been used to gain some political points or it is being done for political expediency, for me, is very unfortunate.
“I will tell you something, I have always been saying that the MoMo tax is not a compulsory tax, you only pay when you use it. If you don’t use it you don’t pay so for me, there is no way any other procedure for making payments is going to equal MoMo.
“Right now, what we are saying is the tax is targeted at those who have the ability to pay, not those who are receiving. If you are receiving it is okay to go and negotiate with the person who has gone to the bank to borrow money and be a MoMo agent, pay money out, otherwise keep the money on your phone and you don’t pay any money.
“It is money targeted at those who want to use the service, even if I stand here and tell people that if you like don’t pay or if you like don’t use MoMo, I tell you, using MoMo will be far cheaper. If you think using the MoMo service is difficult or expensive, you try taking your money out there and even see,” he said.