The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has admonished members of the Majority caucus to back President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to finish his mandated term.
The Speaker noted that following the election of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), allegiances were shifting and that could affect the output of the Majority caucus in the House, hence the need for them to cooperate with their colleagues in the Minority.
At the commencement of the budget debate in Parliament yesterday, the Speaker was not enthused about the attendance of the Majority caucus, and urged them to help the President ‘finish hard’.
“I expect the majority, who have a limping leader, limping because when you look at his back, you have less than those in front of him, (to collaborate with the Minority to have the budget approved).
“You have a lame duck president; a lame duck president because you have elected a flagbearer and loyalty and commitments are shifting, making the president a lame duck,” Mr Bagbin noted.
At the time the Speaker made the statement, the Ghanaian Times counted about 25 of the 138 members of the Majority caucus on the floor compared to about half of the number of their colleagues in the Minority.
Mr Bagbin said the Majority should cooperate with the Minority to get the budget over the line.
“You will need the Minority side of the House to support you finish your term. So if you don’t cooperate well with them we will have difficulty in moving forward as a nation. I expect you to cooperate,” the Speaker stressed.
Meanwhile, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has stated that the 2024 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government had been positioned to return the country to progress.
According to the minister, measures outlined in the budget adequately responded to the cries of Ghanaians and that claims that same is empty and useless were unfounded.
“If you look at the budget, it is obvious that it is healthy and set in a framework that is sustainable and moving forward, we should endeavour to stay on that path,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who is also MP for Ofoase/Ayirebi, said.
He rallied stakeholders, including the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ministries, Departments, Parliament and citizens to support the implementation of the budget because it was only through collaboration that the measures would materialise.
But, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee and MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, said the government was engaged in “voodoo economics”, describing government’s projection to grow the economy to GH¢1 trillion by end of next year as a “ruse”.
“You said you are going to grow your GDP from GH¢850 billion to GH¢1 trillion which is about 22 per cent growth in your GDP. You said you will reduce your inflation from 35 to 15 per cent; an improvement of about 20 per cent.
“What that means is that your GDP is influenced by output and volume and not price. When you put that together, your economy should be growing in real terms close to 20 per cent yet you said you’ll grow by 2.8 per cent. What sort of voodoo mathematics is this? Mr Adongo asked.
He said even after claiming to have grown the GDP in real terms from GH¢219 billion from 2016, Ghanaians have been worse off and any promise by the Akufo-Addo Government to grow Ghana’s GDP should be treated with contempt by the people.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
