The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has hinted at an impasse between Parliament and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta over financial allocations to the legislature.
According to the Speaker, the Minister of Finance vehemently opposes Parliament’s proposal for a 2% allocation of the State’s total revenue to be provided to the House.
Because of the dispute, the presentation of the 2022 budget statement was delayed for more than two hours last week.
Mr. Bagbin, who addressed the subject for the first time during the Post-Budget workshop in the Volta Regional capital Ho over the weekend, said that the provision was required to fully fund Parliament.
“We proposed the paltry sum of the 2% of the total revenue of the State to be allocated to Parliament next year. The Minister vehemently disagrees with us, but he wants us to approve his budget. It is not a threat, it is just a reminder [to the Finance Minister]. We have been fighting for this for some time now,” Alban Bagbin said.
Alban Bagbin vowed earlier this year to halt proceedings leading up to the adoption of the 2021 budget estimates if the Executive follows forward with its intentions to curtail budgetary allocation to the law-making body.
In a letter to Parliament, the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, notified the House of the Executive’s intention to decrease their budget by more than GHS190 million and the Judiciary’s budget by more than GHS70 million.
The letter said that the proposal was necessary due to a shortage of budgetary space.
However, according to the Speaker, this is legally incorrect and a step toward undermining Parliament’s oversight powers.
“The budget is not for the Executive, we have the final power to approve or disapprove and so what the Constitution has done is for them to make recommendations and to negotiate during the deliberations of the budget before the House,” he said.
“It is not for the Executive to impose a ceiling on the Judiciary and Parliament, we have to do the proper thing and so during the consideration of the estimates particularly the Committees concerned, take that on board. At the end of the day, come and inform us as to the negotiated figure, not the ceiling that has been given by the President,” he added.
Read Also: #FixTheCountry movement will meet police today over protest against 2022 budget
