2022 Budget: Minority files motion for rejection of 1st Deputy Speaker’s ruling

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has filed a motion to reject the ruling by the 1st Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu seeking to reverse the rejection of the 2022 budget on December 1.

Mr. Iddrisu will be able to move the motion on the floor of Parliament 48 hours after the Speaker’s office has been notified.

According to the Minority Leader, the December 1 ruling “contravenes the Rules, Conventions and Practices of the House and was actuated by bias.”

Parliament on December 1, 2021, approved the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government in the absence of Minority MPs.

Following a motion by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and a vote by the House, the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu ruled that the earlier decision by the House to reject the budget was in error and in violation of Article 104 (1), and caused it to be expunged from the records.

Parliament subsequently approved the budget without the Minority.

The budget was first rejected on November 31 after a walkout from the Majority side in Parliament.

To address these contentions, the leadership of Parliament has constituted a bi-partisan Committee to resolve the disagreements over the status of the budget statement.

Parliament has also adopted modifications to the 2022 budget despite opposition from the Minority in relation to the 1.75 percent e-Levy.

—citinewsroom