Parliament has approved government’s 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, presented to the House by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021.

Although the budget was rejected by the House last Friday by the Minority, the Majority Caucus overturned the decision today, Tuesday and approved the policy document.

The members on the Minority side were absent during the sitting today.

The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, who chaired the sitting, rubbished the purported rejection of the budget.

He argued that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, erred in overseeing the exercise since there was no clear majority in the House during the proceedings last Friday.

On Friday, November 26, the Minority Caucus voted to reject the budget after the Majority Caucus staged a walkout.

The Minority, among other reasons for rejecting the budget, demanded the suspension of the 1.75% e-levy and the Agyapa royalties deal as well as providing solutions for the ravaging tidal waves in Keta in the Volta Region.

The Majority Caucus later asked Ghanaians to disregard the supposed rejection of the budget as it was unconstitutional.

KT Hammond’s reaction
The Member of Parliament for the Adansi Asokwa constituency in the Ashanti Region, KT Hammond, earlier in the day insisted that the Majority Caucus will marshal all the arsenals at their disposal to approve the 2022 budget, which was rejected by Parliament last Friday.

“The Game is still on. The action will be in play today. There won’t be any more projects in town. The only project in town today is the action on the floor of Parliament. This time you are not going to read my lips, you are going to see it with your naked eyes.”

“We have 138 human beings which we are going to deploy. Every arsenal at our disposal will be displayed today. We are going to pass the 2022 budget. The only action in town today is here in Parliament,” he said in an interview with the media on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.