The government’s fiscal policy for President Akuffo Addo’s final year in office is hanging in the balance in Parliament as the governing Majority NPP Group walked out of the House during a head count on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.
This makes it the second time the Majority Group is walking out of Parliament on their own Budget and the third time they have staged a walkout as a Majority Group in their own government. The first time was in the year 2021.
There was complete pandemonium on the Floor of the House when the Speaker admitted a motion by the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, to challenge his ruling on the voice vote for the approval of the 2024 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
Just after the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Bagbin had expressed his opinion on the voice votes which were similar in pitch from both sides of the House saying, “I think the Ayes have it”, the Deputy Minority Leader stood on his feet on Standing Order 113(2) to call for a head count of the Members of Parliament to confirm or refute the Speaker’s opinion on the voice votes.
According to Order 113(2), “A Member may call for headcount or division if the opinion of Mr. Speaker on the voice vote is challenged.”
He said, “Hon. Speaker, respectfully, I stand on Order 113(2) to call for a headcount to challenge your ruling.”
Things took a dramatic turn afterward and the Majority side of the House through the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, began to raise issues with the call for a headcount. The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, further deepened the concerns by calling into question the process of the application for the headcount.
Before the headcount would be affected, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, got on his feet and indicated, “Mr. Speaker, with respect, we take notice of your pronouncements that you think the Ayes have it. If they want to have a headcount on their side since they are challenging you, we leave the Chamber for them.”
Then the Majority Group led by their Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, some of the Members walked out of the House.
The Speaker then suspended the sitting to deal with the confusion that had arisen in the House due to the walkout. When the House resumed, the Speaker had no choice but to adjourn the House because the House was still out of Order.
Addressing a press conference outside the Chamber, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu accused the Speaker of delaying the headcount to plead for time for five Members of the Minority they claimed was absent to come in before the count.
After that, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta also informed the media that as far as he is concerned, the Budget Policy had been approved because the Speaker was definitive on the voice votes which to him indicates that the “Ayes” have it.
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“As far as I know and I believe, we have the 2024 Budget passed until such time that they resolve whatever it is that they want to resolve,” he said.
The Minority Group on their part, led by their Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, came out claiming victory over the Majority Group saying, “The majority has been defeated in a grand style. In fact, this is the second time this NPP has run away from its own budget. The second time in the history of Ghana, sensing defeat. We have got them and we will get them again another day.”
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
