NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia
General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, says he went to Parliament during the last debate on the 2022 budget statement and economic planning policy to represent “the suffering masses” in the country.
The Majority staged a walk-out last Friday, 26 November, 2021, leading to the rejection of their budget.
The legislators on the government side had protested the presence of Asiedu Nketiah in the house when Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had been asked by Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to leave the chamber.
The NDC Chief Scribe believes his presence in the chamber at that crucial time was not wrong because he went there in the interest of Ghanaians who had reached out to him to whip the Minority MPs to reject the budget.
The Minority had raised red flags over the budget over some taxes they labelled “killer taxes” saying they would hamper growth of businesses.
Speaking to Mugabe Maase on Inside Politics on Power FM, the NDC Chief Scribe stated, “the youth of the country, Fix the country group, economic fighters, drivers, toll booth attendants, and traders had risen against the taxes in budget and followed up to cry before us.”
“So I went to give my MPs the inspiration to stand by the suffering Ghanaians,” he argued. “Ghanaians had already petitioned us to help them fight those taxes.”
Mr Asiedu Nketiah also said there were seats reserved for the leadership of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the controversial budget debate, arguing that they could have come to occupy the seats.
“When I got there, I realized there was a seat that was labeled for me and I also saw similar ones reserved for the National Chairman and the General Secretary of the NPP but they did not come to occupy them although it was their budget that had been slated for approval,” the former MP stated.