The Minority is aggrieved by the approval of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government by Majority MPs on Tuesday, describing it as illegal, null and void.
Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said shortly at a press conference after the Majority approved the 2022 budget that the decision by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, who sat in as the Speaker to include himself and to exercise a vote in order to meet their mandatory defined 138 majority votes was wrong and unfortunate.
He said the First Deputy Speaker set aside the Standing Orders of Parliament and to the 1992 Constitution when he took that decision.
"Standing Order 109:2 reads that Mr Speaker has neither an original nor a casting vote and if upon any question before the House, the votes are equally divided, the motion shall be lost,” he said.
“A Deputy Speaker or any other Member, presiding, shall not retain his original vote while presiding.
“So, constitutionally they were also 137, so Ghanaians should also expect that what they had done is also a nullity to quote them if we are to respect the provisions of the Constitution,” he added.
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Many Ghanaians were optimistic that the current hung 8th Parliament – made up of 137 opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs, 137 MPs of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and one independent MP who has opted to do business with the governing NPP MPs – would reject the contentious budget that analysts believe is laden with too many taxes, key among them the E-levy on mobile money transactions.
However, a one-sided Parliament approved the widely criticised budget statement presented to Parliament by Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021, in the absence of Minority MPs who declined to participate in the voting process.
While the Minority stayed out, the Finance Minister re-submitted a revised version of his budget and got the unanimous approval of all 138 Majority MPs, including that of First Deputy Speaker and Majority MP for Bekwai, who was presiding as Speaker in the absence of Alban Bagbin.
The events in Parliament on Tuesday nullified a previous rejection of the initial budget statement on Friday, November 26, 2021 – also by a one-sided Parliament of Minority MPs.
Explaining why the Minority did not participate in Tuesday's sitting, Mr Iddrisu said the Majority side did consult them prior to the sitting and that they were to approve the Budget subject to concessions granted by the Minister of Finance.
Mr Iddrisu said the Minority’s views were that the Budget should be revised to reflect those concessions before it would be approved by Parliament.
The Minority was against the introduction of the Electronic levy (E-levy) and the re-introduction of the Agyapa Deal in the 022 Budget and wanted a downward revision of the E0-levy to one per cent for the good of the Ghanaian people.