The First Deputy Speaker , Joseph Osei-Owusu has not disrespected the Speaker of Parliament by quashing the earlier rejection of the 2022 Budget, the Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.
His comment comes after a public reaction to the decision of the First Deputy Speaker which subsequently led to the approval of the Budget Parliament on Tuesday ( 30 November).
Joseph Osei-Owusu, who presided over the sitting, said the decision taken by the House last Friday in rejecting the 2022 Budget was not valid, because it did not satisfy the Standing Orders provision which mandates one half of members to be present to take such decisions.
The First Deputy Speaker explained that his presence in the chamber brought the total number to 138; enough to take a decision because he is also a sitting Member of Parliament.
Reacting to the development on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (1 December) Oppong Nkrumah said “Legitimacy is not determined by who or the colour of who was in the Chamber, legitimacy is determined by its consonance with the constitutional provision and the standing orders of Parliament.”
“And why what happened yesterday was not the same as what happened on Friday was that yesterday there were 138 MPs in Parliament before a decision was made, on Friday there were 137 MPs in the Chamber before the decision was made,” he said.
He added, “And just like how on the 22 December 2015, the First Deputy Speaker Hon Ebo Barton Oduro MP for Cape Coast ruled that the decision that had been made by the Rt Hon Doe Adjaho a day earlier purporting to have taken a decision in the name of Parliament was void, and was of no effect. it didn’t amount to a disrespect or undermining of what the Hon Speaker has done but a correction of what the Speaker has done, the two are not the same.”
He refuted claims suggesting the Majority manipulated the rules of the House to approve the 2022 Budget.
Fred Dzakpata
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