The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East in the Upper East Region, Dr Dominc Ayine, has dismiss the suggestion that attempts at consensus building by the Minority in Parliament on the controversial 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, are signs they are being compromised.
He decried that it had become problematic that suggestions of corruption emerged anytime there was the need to negotiate.
“I have observed from within that part of the challenge we have is that at any point in time we want to build consensus on a national issue, we have accusations that people are going to be compromised and sometimes it is seen being instigated from the leadership of political parties,” Dr Ayine bemoaned.
Dr Ayine urged observers to appreciate that negotiation in Parliament was more necessary because of the fine balance between the Majority and Minority in Parliament and the balance had led to contentions over the approval of the 2022 budget, with both sides staging separate walkouts.
He indicated that “if we want to find common ground, it is not because somebody wants to negotiate for some money for himself or some consensus that will benefit him or her personally, because such negotiations normally result in compromise and our bases should take note that you cannot go into negotiation and come out with your bases intact”.
According to him, to pass the budget, the Minority is insisting that the government suspends the Electronic Transaction Levy, withdraw the Agyapa Mineral Royalty Agreement, incorporate measures to address coastal erosion, re-construct the wording relating to the Aker Energy Agreement and review the benchmark value for imports.
It had initially rejected the budget amid a walkout from Majority MPs, but was overturned by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who sat in for the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin.
Mr Osei-Owusu controversially included himself in the total number of MPs in the House before having the motion for the reversal of the rejection of the 2022 budget moved, his inclusion pushed the number of the Majority Caucus MPs to 138 which was one more than the Minority.
He then pushed for the motion and the rejection of the budget by the Minority was erroneous and contended that there was no clear majority in the House during the proceedings and there has since been debate over whether Mr Osei-Owusu can retain the privileges of an MP for a vote while serving as the Speaker of the House.
Since then, the leadership of Parliament has constituted a bi-partisan Committee to resolve the disagreements over the status of the budget statement. –citinewsroom.com
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