MPs reject or approve Budget, not Speaker – Parliamentary Service ¦¦StepUp Ghana

The Parliamentary Service is asking the public to disregard allegations by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, claiming that the Speaker Alban Bagbin threatened the Finance Minister that the House will reject the 2022 Budget.

The Service insists a Speaker of Parliament cannot approve or reject a Budget. According to the Service, that is the sole responsibility of Members of Parliament (MPs).

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu claimed the Speaker threatened to reject the budget if a percent of the GHS 1.72 billion of the total revenue of the country is not allocated to the work of the Parliamentary Service, attributing it to the reason why the budget was rejected.

This was contained in a statement issued December 24, 2021.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, at a news conference on December 23, 2021 questioned the motive of the Speaker of Parliament in relation to the impasse that has characterized business in parliament during the just-ended Budget meeting.

He also suggested that the Speaker of Parliament is carrying out plans to stall the business of the House due to his insistence on getting the Minister for Finance to allocate 1.72 billion Ghana cedis to Parliament.

Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu also disclosed that the Speaker openly confronted the Minister on November 17, 2021, before the budget reading on the need for such an amount to be allocated.

He has therefore blamed the Speaker for the chaos that characterized the House anytime he does not preside.