On November 17, Parliament approved the government’s 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, which was presented by Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta.
The budget was approved in the absence of the Minority MPs, who refused to participate in the day’s proceedings.
In their absence, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta re-submitted a revised version of the 2022 Budget, which the Majority MPs, including the Speaker, unanimously approved.
Today’s sitting has been delayed by hours of meetings between the Majority and Minority leadership aimed at figuring out how to cure what the Majority has labeled as unconstitutionality by Speaker Alban Bagbin.
Mr Bagbin was accused by the Majority of acting in violation of the 1992 constitution after he stated that 137 MPs had voted to reject the budget on Friday.
According to the Majority, the act does not meet the constitutional requirement of 138 MPs being present in the House before a vote may be taken.
The talks between the Most and Minority in Parliament over the rejected Budget were stalled for the majority of Tuesday morning.
The talks in Parliament have been going on for several hours in a desperate bid to reach an agreement on the budget that was rejected.
Following a move by Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu and a vote by the House, First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu declared that the previous decision was made in error and in violation of Article 104 (1), and ordered that it be erased from the record.
The motion on the budget was then considered by Parliament, and it was approved.
Joseph Osei Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker, counted himself as an MP, giving the Majority Caucus in the House 138 members.
The House will now evaluate budget estimates for various sectors of the economy in the coming weeks before passing the spending measure.
This will allow the government to spend according to the funds appropriated in the budget.
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source: myjoyonline
