A pro-government pressure group, Fixing the Country Movement, has expressed its disappointment at the way the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, conducted affairs of the 2022 Budget approval sitting.
The group particularly raised issues regarding the directive for the Finance Minister whose budget was being debated, to leave the Chamber. It said the Finance Minister’s presence in Parliament was to have the opportunity to accommodate the comments made by the Minority into the Budget.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Convener of Fixing the Country Movement, Ernest Owusu Bempah-Bonsu. The statement said the Speaker’s action against the Finance Minister was done in bad faith and showed his partisan side. It said for the Speaker to pose questions which required majority of the House voting in favor, but with less than the number required present in the case of the 2022 Budget approval is a troubling departure from conventions and laid down due process.
It is also an attempt to undermine the democratic freedoms and rights as enshrined in the constitution, and weaken the institution of Parliament, the group added.
Fixing The Country Movement is therefore of the view that any decision that has been taken with less than 138 people in the Chamber is void. The statement said the 2022 Budget is the most progressive ever. And described the minority’s propaganda as an attempt to deny Ghanaians the lofty objectives that the budget primarily seeks to achieve.
The statement urged the Speaker and the Minority to return to Parliament on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, and do what is right and appropriate before the law.
Meanwhile, Fixing the Country Movement, says the rank and file of the NPP should remain calm, resolute and unfazed in the face of developments about the 2022 budget.
