Parliament has approved the government’s Budget Statement and Economic Policy for 2022.
This comes after the Second Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who was filling in for Alban Bagbin, oversaw an election last Friday to override the house’s rejection of the budget.
A one-sided minority house of parliament on Friday, November 26, 2021, voted to reject the 2022 budget presented by the minister of finance after the majority side staged a walkout before voting on the budget was conducted.
But presiding over proceedings of the house on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, the Second Deputy Speaker after ordering for a count of the number of MPs in the house, albeit only majority MPs, announced that there were 138 members present including himself.
He further stated that the number satisfies the constitutional requirement for the house to pass a vote and thus called for a new vote to overturn the decision on Friday as moved by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.
With the absence of the minority side, the all-majority MPs present voted to overturn the rejection of the 2022 budget statement.
The house further conducted a vote to pass the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy with the speaker announcing the budget presented to the house by the minister for finance on September 17, 2021, as having been adopted by the house.
One-sided minority rejects 2022 budget
Minority members of parliament on Friday, November 27, 2021, voted to reject the 2022 budget presented by the minister of finance after the majority side staged a walkout before voting on the budget was conducted.
The Minority on Friday, voted to reject the approval of the 2022 budget after the majority side had earlier staged a walk-out.
According to the minority, the budget presented to parliament by the finance minister on September 17, 2021, had in it components such as tax policies that are insensitive to the economic conditions of Ghanaians.
The finance minister on Friday moved for parliament to vote on the budget. Prior to that, however, he moved that the speaker should allow him engage leaders of both sides on some issues.
During voting on whether the minister should be allowed to engage the leaders, the speaker ruled on the motion as ‘rejected’ based on a voice vote.
The majority however raised objection to the speaker’s ruling following which they staged a walkout.
After objecting to the ruling against the finance minister’s motion to engage leaders of both sides, the majority MPs raised an objection calling for a revote. The speaker then asked the finance minister to exit the floor but the majority who were infuriated by the directive insisted that the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who was also seated at the public gallery be made to exit the chamber as well.
The refusal of the speaker to order Mr Asiedu Nketia out of the chamber also caused the Majority to boycott proceedings leaving only the minority to vote on the budget.
