The Parliamentary Minority wants to vote on every fiscal allocation in the Appropriations Bill for 2022.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu told the press after the contentious budget passage that the minority will not compromise on this.
“Let me warn, that from Wednesday, every other decision of Parliament will be by voting. From tomorrow, every other decision of Parliament, we will insist on a minimum number of headcounts. At appropriation of estimates, we will vote on them,” he warned.
“Therefore, if they claim that they respect the Constitution, they must respect the fact that Tuesday’s decision is a constitutional nullity because the Deputy Speaker has no original or casting vote. Nothing more. And therefore, they were, at best, 137”, Mr. Iddrisu added.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the Minority expressed its displeasure with Parliament’s decision, led by First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu, to override the rejection of the 2022 budget statement last Friday by interpreting the constitution and Parliament’s standing orders.
Before moving the resolution to rescind the rejection of the 2022 Budget, the First Deputy Speaker included himself in the total number of MPs in the House.
Despite the fact that he served as Speaker of Parliament in the absence of Alban Bagbin.
With his addition, the Majority Caucus now has 138 MPs, one more than the Minority.
This maintained the Majority within the bounds of standing rules, which provide that no subject for decision in the House shall be submitted for resolution until at least one-half of the Members of the House are present.
Mr. Owusu then pushed for the motion, claiming that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, made a mistake in monitoring the Minority side’s rejection of the budget last Friday since there was no clear majority in the House throughout the proceedings.
Read Also: 2022 budget rejection overturned; policy document approved after Minority boycott
SOURCE: CITINEWS
