Members on the Majority side of Parliament on Friday evening staged a walkout during processes to approve the 2022 budget.
They took the action following a directive by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, for non-MPs to vacate the Chamber.
Parliament had rejected a request by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta to engage leadership of the House on some aspect of the budget by a voice vote.
This ruling was challenged by Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Alexander Afenyo Markin, who called for a ‘voice division’ to allow for the voting to be redone.
The Speaker following the challenge asked that non-MPs had to vacate the Chamber during the voice division process.
While vacating the Chamber, the Majority MPs demanded that the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who was sitting in the public gallery at the time, to also exit the House.
READ ALSO: 2022 Budget: Majority's no show in Parliament compels Speaker to suspend sitting
Their request was rejected flowing which they staged a walkout.
In a absence of the Majority group, the 137 Minority MPs voted to reject a request for the 2022 budget to be approved.
Earlier, the Speaker of Parliament was compelled to suspended sitting for 30 minutes after the Majority group failed to show up to conclude debates on the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
According to the Speaker, he was informed that the Majority side were in a caucus meeting.
But Speaker explained that he was not informed earlier about the meeting but the only information he had was that the two sides of the House will have a caucus meeting before plenary.
The Speaker said he was surprised to see that only the Minority side was present, hence his decision to suspend the House for 30 minutes to allow the Majority side to join for concluding debates on the budget.