Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, has stated that the supposed rejection of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government is much ado about nothing as the whole process was unconstitutional.
According to him, the most important aspect of the budgetary processes is the Appropriation Bill where the estimates of every ministry are brought to Parliament for debate.
Committees of the House, he said, will be tasked to discuss the estimates and present reports, which will be adopted for the Appropriation Bill to be passed into an Act.
The Act, Mr O. B. Amoah explained, gives the government authority to generate revenue and spend money for the whole year.
“So what happened on Friday was just a debate on the policy. It is when the Appropriation Bill is rejected that we can say the budget has been rejected and not the policy statement,” he stated.
Mr. O.B. Amoah who also the Member of Parliament for Akuapem South Constituency in the Eastern Region stated these on Monday on Koforidua-Based Freedom FM concerning the purported rejection of the 2022 budget.
He argued that it is the right of the minority to dislike the budget but stressed it is a majority decision that will determine what happens to the budget.
Mr O. B. Amoah stressed that Parliament requires at least 50% of members to be present in the Chamber for a decision taken to be binding, insisting that what happened on Friday was a breach of the processes because the Minority does not even constitute the 50%.
He pointed out that if the budget rejection were to be proper and legal, the government will not be able to spend any money from January 2022.
“This means the government will not able to pay workers including MPs and public sector workers.
“So if this goes on into January next year and the problem is not solved, the government will not have the authority to collect revenue or spend money to pay any government worker,” he said.
Budget not rejected
Mr. O.B. Amoah stressed the Minority does not have the right to reject the government’s budget and indicated the decision could be challenged at the Supreme Court.
He however noted that the entire budget process will have to be halted until the Supreme Court rules on the matter, which is not the best.
“You heard a lot of their lawyers talking about it but none of them has said what the Speaker did was right.
“The condition that the Minority has set out for approval of this budget is populist to make-believe they care about the people of Ghanaian,” he added.
Skirt and blouse voting
Mr. O.B. Amoah blamed the budget stalemate in Parliament on the ‘skirt and blouse’ voting that some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did during the 2020 general elections.
He stressed the repercussion is what Ghanaians are seeing in Parliament today and argued NPP members cannot be exempted from blame.
