Parliament yesterday approved the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government presented by Minister for Finance Mr Ken Ofori-Atta on November 17 this year.
This followed earlier confusion on whether or not the budget had been rejected at Friday’s Parliamentary sitting by the minority caucus.
The Majority side accused the Speaker of the House, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin for acting in breach of the 1992 constitution after the speaker claimed that 137 members of parliament had taken a decision to reject the budget, an act that fails the constitutional requirement of 138 MPs present in the house before a decision can be made.
Yesterday’s sitting was delayed by hours of meetings between the majority and minority leadership aimed at exploring how to cure the unconstitutionality committed by speaker Bagbin and the 137 MPs.
Upon a motion by Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and a vote by the house, the speaker ruled that the earlier decision was in error and in violation of article 104 (1) and caused it to be expunged from the record.
Parliament then proceeded to properly consider the motion on the budget and subsequently approved it.
Parliament will now consider the budget estimates in the coming weeks for specific sectors of the economy before the appropriation bill will be passed to give the government the green light to spend according to monies appropriated in the budget.
Minister for Finance Mr Ken Ofori-Atta in winding up the debate, highlighted how government will accommodate the concerns raised by the minority in the approval of estimates, revenue bills and appropriation.
Meanwhile, at the time of the approval of the budget, the minority caucus had boycotted the House.
However, the group later held a news conference and expressed their disappointment on the decision to set aside their earlier rejection of the budget.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu also criticised the first Deputy Speaker for counting himself as a Member of Parliament and “voting”.
