Parliament has approved government’s 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, presented to the House by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Memnsa Bonsu pleaded with the Speaker to uphold the motion and set aside the impropriety conducted in rejecting the budget statement last Friday, 26th November 2021.
In his plead, he relied on Order 109(1) and Article 104 (1) of the Constitution both of which called for not less than one-half of all Members of Parliament present to take decisions. He said the 137 that rejected the budget statement did not meet the Constitutional requirement as contained in Article 104(1).
“Mr. Speaker, it is clear, as I have registered that the number that was invoked, the Article that was invoked was insufficient to cover the determination of the question that was proposed for the support or rejection of the budget.”
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu who chaired proceedings subsequently upheld the motion and declared the budget rejection as having no effect.
However, with the Minority side of the House absent during the sitting on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, the 138 majority members in parliament, including the Speaker, approved the budget statement through a voice vote.
A one sided 137 Minority members rejected the Budget Statement last Friday November 26, 2021, but this would be overturned by the majority side of the House.
Ghanamps.com
Month: November 2021
First Deputy Speaker did not have a voting right during budget approval—Haruna Iddrisu
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has categorically stated that, the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Joseph Osei Owusu did not have a voting right during the time of approving the 2022 annual budget, since the Standing Orders 109 (3) actually State that, “A Deputy Speaker or any member presiding shall not retain his original vote while presiding”.
According to him the NPP Majority claims they had 138 members to approve the budget but in this case, order 109 clause 3 disqualifies Joseph Osei Owusu from voting since he was in the chair as Speaker of Parliament but not as MP, therefore in actual sense, 137 NPP Majority member approved the budget but not 138 as they want people to believe.
Mr. Iddrisu added that, going forward, the NPP Majority in Parliament should prepare well, since they are not going to have things easy at all, because the NDC Minority is going to insist that, there is counting and voting on everything the House.
He made these comments at a press conference held in Parliament soon after the overturning of an earlier rejected 2022 budget and approving the budget, Tuesday, November 30, 2021.
“This would pass in history as a dark day for Ghana’s constitutional parliamentary democracy practice, those seeking to govern are seeking to appropriate and reprobate at the same time; we were not in the chamber because we rejected the 2022 budget on Friday which is reflected in the votes and proceedings; I am happy that the Majority Leader in his submission accepted that we are 137”.
Again, to avoid humiliating defeat, they walked out because they had 137 members like we also have and that would have led to a lost as we have in the constitution and standing orders, “who ask for a division and walks out?”
“Today I am disappointed in the conduct of the first Deputy Speaker having include himself and exercise a vote in other to meet their mandate 138 without respect to our standing orders and the 1992 constitution”.
Mr. Iddrisu indicated that the Majority side consulted their side on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 in the morning they ask us to approve the budget subject to concession; and questioned where the concessions were in the budget.
“If there were concessions, revise the budget to reflect those concessions; we stand with that position and should reflect in the text. And we had a stalemate on the matter of E-Levy. Our original position was that no, no, no to the levy, they explained to us the difficulties to the economy and needed some additional revenues. They said they were not prepared to review the E-Levy, and then we decided that they should stand alone with it. We asked them to adjust the threshold of 100 Ghana upwards they said they were not prepared to do that”.
All because we wanted to inherit a healthy economy in the foreseeable future by John Mahama in 2025, “we would address a full scale press conference at the appropriate time we needed to let Ghanaians know where we stand”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
Parliament overturns rejection of 2022 Budget
Parliament on Tuesday voted to overturn Friday November 26, 2021’s rejection of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government.
Invoking Order 109 (1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, and Article 104 of the Constitution, the Majority Leader pleads with the Speaker to uphold the motion and set aside the impropriety.
Order 109(1) – “No question for decision in the House shall be proposed for determination unless there are present in the House not less than one-half of all Members of the House, and except otherwise provided in the Constitution, the Question proposed shall be determined by the majority of the votes of the members present and voting”, And Article 104 (1) “Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, matters in Parliament shall be determined by the votes of the majority of members present and voting, with at least half of all the members of Parliament present”, he argued that the number 137 which rejected the budget statement on Friday did not meet the test of the Constitution under Aticle 104 (1).
According to him, the Speaker erred in relying on Order 102 – “A quorum of Parliament, apart from the person presiding, shall be one-third of all the members of Parliament. Order 102, he noted is appropriate for transacting ordinary business apart from decision making, and described the it as most irregular.
Coming under Order 50(1), the Majority Leader thus plead with the First Deputy Speaker who was presiding to properly pose for determination, the question on the motion moved by the minister of Finance on Wednesday November 17, 2021 in respect of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the year ending 31st December, 2022. “Mr. Speaker, it is clear, as I have registered that the number that was invoked, the Article that was invoked was insufficient to cover the determination of the question that was proposed for the support or rejection of the budjet.”
He thus pleaded with the Speaker to uphold the motion and set aside the impropriety.
Upholding the motion and setting aside the impropriety
The Speaker in his ruling said per the records of last Friday’s proceedings, the confirmed numbers of members of parliament at the time the question was put was less than half all the members of parliament. “Clearly the record shows that 137 members were present, that number is less than 50 percent or half of all members“.
He stated that article 104(1) Standing Order 109(1) regulates the process of decision making in the House, “the combined effect if this provision and standing orders are that the question shall not be put on any matter for decision to be made unless one-half of all Members are present in this chamber”, and stated that the Speaker presiding at the time might not have averted his minds to these constitutional and procedural requirements.
He said the putting of the question on the budget statement on Friday, November 26, 2021 was in violation of Article 104(1) of the Constitution, therefore, void and inconsequential, and declared the rejection of the budget statement as of no effect.
Ghanamps.com
ECOWAS Parliament should pay more attention to country reports now—Ayariga
In the wake of the military takeover in Guinea, as Community lawmakers raise critical issues when country reports are presented at the plenary for discussion, a member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mahama Ayariga is calling for more attention to be paid to country reports than the Parliament is doing.
“We should allow diversity in the presentation of country reports; there are different sides in every political set up, so if you give one monolithic report, it often turns to be a water down of the reality in those countries. So the different political groupings representing a start should present different reports”.
In an interview he noted that when that is done, the Parliament can see the different shades from the different political parties to have a better view of the truth and reality in the various member states.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
ECOWAS Parl.:Ghana to present country report only when 2022 budget brouhaha is resolved
Members of Ghana’s delegation to the Community Parliament are yet to fly out of the Ghana to join their colleagues in Abuja as the Parliament commenced its second Ordinary Session meeting on Tuesday, November, 30, 2021.
Members of Parliament on both the Majority and Minority side of the House are needed to take a decision on Ghana’s 2022 budget.
The Majority side of the House on Friday, November 26, 2021 walked out of the chamber before the Speaker Rt. Hon Alban Bagbin put a question on the approval of the budget it was 137 for the disapproval and zero for the approval of the budget.
The Majority side, however, in a press conference organised same day pointed out that the Speaker Rt. Hon Alban Bagbin engaged in unconstitutionality in his ruling, whiles the Minority in their view said the ruling of the Speaker stands.
Ghanamps.com seeing all the ECOWAS delegation around inquired as to what they were still doing in Ghana, but most of them said, “we cannot leave for Abuja until the budget issue is resolved”.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament would from Wednesday, December 1, 2021 start presenting Country report and discussions per the programme format for the Second Ordinary Secession for 2021.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
Voting on 2022 Budget in Parliament Way forward —Opare-Ansah
Frederick Opare-Ansah writes we were all witnesses to the events that unfolded last Friday the 26th day of November 2021 on the floor of Parliament with respect to the above subject matter. The Speaker of Parliament, after putting the question, had the clerks actually count the members and then proceeded to make a declaration of the results of the vote and then the consequential order that the Budget has been rejected by the House.
We need to use parliamentary procedure, practices and conventions as well as the laws of the land to be able to overturn that decision. Indeed it is doable!
The Speaker said:
“AYES” have zero (0) and the “NOES” have 137. There is no record of abstentions. So clearly the total number of MPs present and voting can easily be determined by the summation of this results. This means there were 137 MPs in the chamber at the time of voting. The provisions of clause (1) of Article 104 of the 1992 constitution which is repeated in the Standing Orders of Parliament is clear. You need at least one half of all the Members of Parliament to be able to take any decision.
It is important to draw the distinction for everyone to understand that the one third quorate number is to allow for deliberations in the house but the quorum requirement for decision taking is more than half. Currently that number is 138.
There are two avenues available to our (Majority) side to overturn that decision:
1.File a substantive motion challenging the ruling of the Speaker
2.File a motion at the Supreme Court asking the Court to issue a certiorari to quash the Speaker’s ruling as he clearly erred on the face of the record.
The second may face several legal challenges and the time available may not be adequate and so I will opt for the first as it is less litigious, preserves the dignity of the House and requires less time. With our superior number of 138 the Majority side will be able to overturn the Speaker’s decision and have another opportunity at taking a new vote in respect of the 2022 Budget.
Most importantly, leadership inside Parliament and in Government need to create back channels to properly and seriously engage the Minority caucus and their Party leadership about the concerns that has been raised about the budget even as the Parliamentary process to overturn the Speaker’s ruling gets underway.
Ghanamps.com
Accept defeat and acknowledge rejection of 2022 budget – Minority advises Majority Leader, government.
The Minority in parliament has advised the Majority Leader and Government to accept defeat, and acknowledge the rejection of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy by Parliament and focus on discussions on how to save the country from an imminent economic crisis.
A statement signed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu on 28th November, 2021 said “The Minority is shocked and disappointed at the recent attack on the Rt. Hon Speaker by the Majority Leader in his attempt to explain away their inability to show leadership in the House during the consideration of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.”
The statement said Parliament is governed by the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament and not the imagination and thinking of any Member, adding that “It is the height of irresponsibility that the Nana Addo/Bawumia Government could not marshal the full strength of their Members of Parliament (MPs) to defend their 2022 budget before Parliament.”
Read below the full statement
STATEMENT BY THE NDC CAUCUS
IN RESPONSE TO THE MAJORITY ON THE REJECTION OF 2022 BUDGET STATEMENT AND ECONOMIC POLICY OF GOVERNMENT
THE IRRESPONSIBLE NPP “MAJORITY GROUP” CANNOT RUN AWAY FROM THEIR BUDGET AND BLAME OTHERS FOR ITS DEFEAT
The Minority is shocked and disappointed at the recent attack on the Rt. Hon Speaker by the Majority Leader in his attempt to explain away their inability to show leadership in the House during the consideration of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
The Minority wishes to strongly advise the Majority Leader and Government to accept defeat, acknowledge the rejection of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy by Parliament and focus on discussions on how to save the country from an imminent economic crisis.
Parliament is governed by the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament and not the imagination and thinking of any Member.
The Minority Caucus wishes to state that the Speaker applied strictly the rules, procedures and practices of the House and urged the public to ignore the allegations peddled by the Majority Caucus that sought to bring the image and reputation of the Speaker into disrepute.
The Minority dismisses, with contempt, the comments of the Majority Leader.
It is the height of irresponsibility that the Nana Addo/Bawumia Government could not marshal the full strength of their Members of Parliament (MPs) to defend their 2022 budget before Parliament. It is a known fact that the 137 New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the one independent Members of Parliament constitute a majority group of 138 MPs of the Parliament of Ghana and thus outnumber the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which has 137 MPs.
With this number which could secure them victory in any vote why did they run away from their own budget? There is no way the Standing Orders of Parliament or 1992 Constitution supports the Majority Leader’s position that the Budget has not been rejected.
It is trite law that you cannot sleep on a right and wake up to claim it. How could Members of a Governing party walk out on their own budget? They walked out only to save their face and a damning humiliation. They simply did not have the numbers to win any vote much more approve a Budget.
Sadly, why did the NPP Members do the unthinkable and for the first time in our recent political history, a so-called Majority side walked out on its own budget? Which serious governing party will do this, on a critical matter such as the approval of an economic policy and budget brought by a government formed by their party.
It is Ghana’s day of shame, that the majority failed to stand their grounds and be counted as those who seek to impose killer taxes on our already suffering citizens.
We wish to reiterate that what happened after the majority group walked out of Parliament is perfectly legal and meets all constitutional standards and conventions of Parliament and any
court will have a Herculean task to attempted to set it aside. The press statement of the NPP members of parliament claiming unconstitutional conduct by the very experienced Rt. Hon Alban Sumana BAGBIN should be disregarded with all the contempt it deserves.
Parliament has duly rejected the 2022 Budget. Until and unless the Government removes the draconian taxes and revises some issues contained in the rejected budget, the NDC Members of Parliament remain unable to support such policies.
The solution to Ghana’s current crisis lies in cutting down on unprecedented levels of looting of public funds by NPP officials reflected in lavish lifestyles of NPP Government and party functionaries and reduction of unnecessary Government expenditure. Until there is value for money no additional taxes should be imposed on the already suffering masses of Ghanaians.
The NDC caucus in Parliament calls on the public to remain steadfast in their expectations and convictions that the NDC caucus will remain committed to the cause of ordinary suffering Ghanaians.
The NPP Majority Leadership should appreciate that this is a new Parliament; a hung Parliament. Those days of the NPP Majority bullying and disrespecting an “insignificant” Minority because of their overwhelming majority numbers are over.
The NPP Government should rather concentrate on bringing a revised Budget that will, among others, address the following:
- Suspend the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy);
The Government should suspend the E-Levy and properly engaged stakeholders to agree on a reasonable policy. How can mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances be charged 1.75 percent? The policy is not retrogressive, not pro-poor and does not support the much-touted digitalisation agenda and cash-lite economy that we all yearn for.
- Withdrawal of Agyapa;
The NDC Minority will not support any collateralisation of our revenues particularly mineral resources. The future of our country will be bleak if we continue in that regard. We cannot jeopardise the future generations of our country just for our present desires.
- Provide for Tidal Waves Disaster;
The Government should incorporate in its revised Budget adequate measures to address the issue relating to the Tidal Waves Disaster in Keta and other communities. The victims should be supported. And the Phase II of the Blekusu Coastal Protection Project must find space in the Budget.
- Properly re-construct the wording relating to the Aker Energy; and
Relating to GNPC acquisition of stake from Aker Energy and AGM Petroleum, the revised Budget should reconstruct paragraph 829 of the rejected Budget to reflect the decision of the House as captured in 6th August, 2021Votes and Proceedings of Parliament.
- Review the Benchmark Value for Imports.
Government should, in a revised Budget, reconsider paragraph 247 of the rejected Budget which sought to restore the Benchmark Values of imports by suspending the 50 percent discount on selected General Goods and the 30 percent discount on vehicles. Some concession should be given to the importers.
The NPP Majority Leadership should appreciate that this is a new Parliament; a hung Parliament. Those days of the NPP Majority bullying the Minority because of their “excess” numbers are over. But with the nature and character of this new Parliament with its near equal- numbers (137+137) calls for broader and thorough consultation to secure the best national interest for the good of the Ghanaian people.
We hope the NPP government will do what is right and proper when considering a revised budget. The NPP Government should critically take on board the view of the Minority and sentiments of the Ghanaian populace and bring a Budget that is acceptable and address the issues of the general public. The NDC Members of Parliament has no problem approving a Budget that addresses the generality of the concerns of the Ghanaian people.
Long Live the Fourth Republic! Long Live the Republic of Ghana!
………..[sgd]………..
MINORITY LEADER
#LAWYER_HARUNA_IDDRISU 28th November, 2021
“Speaker lied when he said he was not aware of our caucus meeting”—Majority Leader
Leader of Government Business, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has said the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin lied to Ghanaians when on Friday, November 26, 2021 when he came to preside over sitting that delayed and said he was not aware of a Majority side caucus meeting.
According to the Majority Leader, they had a meeting with the Speaker which coincided with one Dr. J. Y Amoakon, formerly of Economic Commission of Africa who wanted to see them. So for two hours they were meeting him.
Adding that in the cause of the meeting, the ‘Fix the Country’ movement came and together with the Minority Leader, they had to move and receive their petition, “which petition never got delivered to them”. They came to complete the meeting with Dr. J. Y Amoakon.
However, after that meeting, “I made request to the Speaker that we were to have our caucus meeting at 8:00am, now that we have finished grant us 30 minutes to have our caucus meeting. He said we can have it”.
“Speaker came and sat in the chair and lied that we did not apply to him; he does not know of any caucus meeting, no one has told him anything, how can you do that, how can the Speaker behave that way, is not good enough and I think the meeting we had this morning we should be transparent and accountable to each other”
Mr. Kyei-Mensah questioned, how do they build confidence and trust, if the Speaker can behave this way, should anything happen to the Speaker, “I should be the first person as the leader of the House to protect and defend the Speaker, what is happening now cannot be good for the House”.
At a media briefing after they staged the walkout on Friday, November 26, 2021, he revealed that his side is not running away from their own budget but they would not tolerate a question being put by the Speaker under intimidation circumstances not under any threat, they would not submit to it, what they have done is just to allow cool heads to prevail, they are moving out to have a caucus meeting on the attitude of Speaker and they would see what to do.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
Afenyo -Markin accuses Minority backbenchers of disrupting their engagement with the Speaker
Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin said the Majority side is ready to engage their colleagues in the Minority and had been doing that on Friday, November 26, 2021 when they had been in a meeting together with the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament.
According to him there was a worrying development which should be checked going forward because whiles in the meeting, the backbenchers from the Minority would come and disrupt the meeting and it appeared they themselves did not respect their leadership.
He indicated that the Finance Minister sought audience with the Speaker and he granted it. But while the engagement with the Speaker and the leadership of the minority over the issues that they had concerns over was ongoing, attempts were made to disrupt it. “In a well-functioning democracy this machoism by the Minority would never be tolerated; it is not that we are saying we are a majority have your say we would have our way, that has never been our posture, we have been engaging even when the debate was going on we were still engaging them on thorny issue”.
Again, the E-Levy that they want them to go at war with, they are aware of the challenges the country faces and under HIPIC during the time of President John Agyekum Kuffour the tradition of the current administration demonstrated projects they used the funds they got for.
“We are telling Ghanaians and our colleagues in the Minority, they are going to see E-projects all over the country, the Majority leader took time to tell Ghanaians that the NDC is up to mischief here, they are the same party they have not changed in terms of their leadership, as a group they were in power for eight years, they introduced burdensome taxes, we came and true to our words we brought relief to Ghanaians. Most of these taxes we either reduced them or abolished them. We went on to introduce social programmes to benefit Ghanaians”.
At a media briefing on Friday, November 26, 2021 he pointed out that even in the midst of COVID-19, if not out of political mischief they should cooperate for them to pass the E-Levy and they would see where Ghana would be and if they would not utilise the funds for the very project they have been calling for in parliament.
“We want to assure Ghanaians that this government is aware of its social contract with the people of Ghana, we would not fail them”
He warned that all around us is political instability, stating that Ghana has done its work in terms of its democracy to the envy of all people around us, “if it is the intention of people to destroy our democracy, they would not allow it and they would not be part of any illegality, he said.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
Majority vows not to tolerate the Speaker again
Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has given signals that going forward his side would no longer tolerate the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin as he has started demonstrating that he is not a neutral Speaker who would want to carry the House along.
According to him the Speaker has started displaying machoism in the House, stating that after the conclusion of the 2022 budget debate, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta made an application to him to make an intervention before the conclusion of the budget; but he did not grant that application until the two leaders of the House concluded their debate.
“Without, any provocation the Speaker indicated that from now onward, he (the Speaker) should be recognised as the number two citizen of the land, and not the third gentleman; we all laugh over it because we all thought it was a joke”.
Mr. Osei-Kyei was also not happy about the Speaker’s directive that the Marshal should lead the Finance Minister out of the chamber following his earlier directive for all individuals including ministers who were not members of parliament to leave the chamber.
The Speaker’s directive follows the deputy Majority leader’s objection to the Speaker’s ruling on the voice vote to allow the finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta to have further engagement with the leaders of the House, and called for a ‘Division’.
“Whenever the Finance Minister comes to this House he presents his budget and aspect of the budget has been criticize by colleagues from the other side, at the end of the day they have all rallied to approve of the budget. This time around the Ministers said he sees disagreement so he appeals to the Speaker to be given the opportunity to do some engagement.
As a Speaker who thinks he can issues his own directives to ministers now says that simple application must be subjected to a vote; the man who makes the application should be moved away from the plenary at the conclusion of the debate.”
According to him, when it comes to voting, ministers are not allowed to participate, but they are always there. “But for whatever reason, the Speaker is saying he must leave; failure to do so, he would call the marshal to take him out.”
“What kind of threat is that, and we felt that if we do not stop this behaviour from the Speaker, we do not know the vice president would be the next, he can participate in proceedings but he cannot vote. Assuming it is the vice president who comes and he tells him to walk out?” He queried.
And if he fails he would subject him to the orders of the marshal, can you believe that without any provocation in the meantime our orders provide that in such a situation it is the gallery that must be cleared, the minister is sitting in the plenary not in the gallery, he added.
He wondered why the General Secretary of the NDC in the gallery must not be ejected, but Finance Minister, who made an application and is in the plenary, should be taken away; “this is unbecoming of a Speaker, and we should not tolerate this any longer”.
Ironically, he noted, they had a meeting Friday, November 26, 2021 in the morning to discuss some of these issues that we must carry the House along; “you are not the Speaker for one side of the House, increasingly he is beginning to demonstrate this tendency, and attitude does not speak well of a Speaker who is neutral.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com