The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Honorable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has reacted to the backlash at the minority for what happened in Parliament yesterday. Ablakwa explained that the conclusion of the debate and the approval of the policy was just the first stage.
He educated Ghanaians on how the who budget approval thing works in Parliament. He assured Ghanaians that although the policy has been approved, the minority will reject or call for a reduction in some controversial allocations such as the GHS1.4 billion for Contingency Vote, GHS80 million for National Cathedral, and many other more.
He also assured Ghanaians that the minority will also oppose the increased VAT rate and call for the removal of the e-levy. For that reason, he told Ghanaians that the minority will do everything in their power to fight for Ghanaians.
He wrote;
“Respectfully, folks need to understand the Budget Approval Process. It’s a process of 4 stages and not 1 event.
What took place yesterday was just the conclusion of debate and approval of the policy. (Stage 1)
We would now consider the estimates of the various Ministries, Departments, Agencies and other Cost Centres. This is where controversial allocations such as the GHS1.4billion for Contingency Vote, GHS80million for National Cathedral, GHS10million for so-called “Defence Advisory Services” would come under surgical scrutiny for possible rejection or downward review as the case may be. It was at this stage last year we successfully removed that dubious GHS241million allocation for “e-Transaction Levy Services. (Stage 2)
We shall then move into the 3rd stage to consider the revenue bills. This is where government’s proposed obnoxious 2.5% VAT increase and the e-Levy threshold removal will be presented to the House as Bills requiring parliamentary decision. The NDC Caucus has already indicated we shall be voting against these revenue bills. (Stage 3).
The final stage is the approval of the Appropriation Bill which is an itemized sum of all approved estimates by the House based on which government can spend in the ensuing year. (Stage 4).
We shall be working on these processes from now until December 21, 2022 when the House is expected to break for Christmas.
Ghanaians did not give the NDC a parliamentary majority, and neither is it an NDC President destroying our economy and introducing bitter policies to further impoverish the citizenry, nonetheless, we shall discharge our duties with utmost integrity, a good conscience, respect and solidarity with the suffering Ghanaians we represent.
We hope and pray our resistance succeeds — May God Help Us.”
Meanwhile, Parliament approved the 2023 budget which was presented by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta. After some days of debates, the Minority and majority leader gave their concluding remarks today.
The Speaker of Parliament later put a question to the Members of Parliament present about the motion to adopt the 2023 budgets. And there was a voice vote.
“I think the ayes have it”, Bagbin said after the voice vote.
The majority won the voice vote meaning that Parliament approved the 2023 Budget.
ALSO READ: 2023 Budget Approved Despite Opposition From Minority In Parliament.