Finance Minister Insists Parliament Approved 2024 Budget Despites Stalmate

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Majority in Parliament insist that the 2024 budget has been passed following the declaration of the voice vote by the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, despite the Minority’s position that the 2024 budget and economic statement have not been passed.

The Majority caucus staged a walkout in Parliament during the process to approve the 2024 budget on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.

After the debate on the budget was concluded, the Speaker of Parliament put the question for the policy document to be approved or rejected through a voice vote.

The Minority MPs challenged the ruling by the Speaker, insisting that the 2024 budget had been approved by a majority voice vote and called for a headcount.

This decision did not sit well with the Majority MPs, who walked out of the house.

The Majority MPs insisted that the Speaker of Parliament had already ruled in their favour, hence the headcount was needless.

Addressing journalists after the walkout by the Majority, the Finance Minister said, “At the end of the day, the Speaker put it to vote twice, and he declared that the ‘ayes’ have it. That means the budget, in my view, has been passed. Later, there was a challenge, which has not been resolved. So far as I know and believe, we have the 2024 budget passed until such time that they resolve whatever they want to resolve.”

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who expressed fury about the Speaker’s actions, pointed out, “You were all there; you heard the Speaker loud and clear. Why should a Speaker beat such a hasty retreat from what he has said? In this case, he said the ‘ayes’ have it. Then you have the Speaker making a sudden U-turn that he didn’t add that the ‘ayes’ have it. He just expressed an opinion. And that’s most unfortunate. So, we think that the proper thing should be done.”

“We agreed to the headcount; what was he waiting for? For good about 30 minutes, he was not doing anything. What kind of attitude is this? That is why we left the chamber. Five MPs of the Minority were not here, so all that he was doing was to buy more time to enable them to find a way into the chamber.”