Minority accuses Majority of shirking debate on 2020 budget

The Minority in Parliament is accusing colleagues on the other side of the isle of showing no interest in discussing the 2020 budget statement and financial policy of government presented on Wednesday, November 13.

Deliberations on the budget began on Monday, November 18 as scheduled.

But on the second day of deliberations, there were only a handful of members in the House, forcing the Speaker to suspend sitting for an hour.

The attention of the Speaker, Reverend Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, was drawn to the few numbers by Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Constituency, Mahama Ayariga, who even accused the leadership of the Majority of not present to respond to his concerns.

“It is worrying as the core business for Parliament this week is to deliberate on the Financial Policy of Government for 2020 as presented by the Finance Minister last Wednesday,” Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The Budget debates are a crucial Parliamentary function and the lack of interest of the Majority side of the House is disturbing.” He expressed his caucus’ readiness to scrutinize the statement presented by Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta “and we would guard this role jealousy”.

“The Minority is committed to its role in protecting our democracy and maintaining a high level of dedication to our Parliamentary work. “We urge the Majority side to take government serious and commit themselves to the mandate for which they have been elected.”

The House is expected to reconvene for a continuation of Tuesday’s proceedings if a quorum is attained.