Parliament has approved the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government after heated arguments from both sides of the House on Friday 19 March.
The Speaker, Alban Bagbin, had to resort to head count to resolve the stalemate.
The 2021 budget was eventually adopted by Parliament after the majority won the head count by 137 YES votes against the minority’s 134 NO votes.
Parliament will now move to consider the budget estimates and then consider the passage of the appropriations bill.
The 2021 budget was presented by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and leader of Government Business in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu last Friday.
Read the full Budget Statement below for all the details:
Speaker’s concern
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin served notice to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he is not going to accept a reduction in the budgetary allocation to Parliament when the House started debating the statement.
On Tuesday 16 March 2021, Bagbin disclosed that the budgetary allocation for Parliament has been reduced by over GHC119 million.
“Respectfully, I’m unable to accept such reduction,” the former Nadowli-Kaleo MP said on the floor during the debate on the 2021 budget.
According to him, the right thing must be done else Parliament will also block the budget from being approved.
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