Controversies surrounds approval of 2022 budget
Chaotic scenes in parliament
Joseph Osei-Owusu rejects motion to overturn budget approval
This week in parliament, many headlines came out of proceedings following the previous week’s historic rejection of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as presented to the House by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta.
And, depending on which side of the House you subscribe to, several submissions of the Members of Parliament during the sittings of the week, all the way into the heated debates that characterized especially the sitting of Wednesday, December 1, 2021, you may or may not agree that things were might not entirely be favourable to you.
From the defences presented by members on both sides of the House, GhanaWeb brings to you some of the highlights and some of the submissions made by some MPs.
We start this listicle with the transcribed submissions made by some members of the Minority side of the House on December 1, 2021, in their attempt to overturn the controversial approval of the budget the day before.
Mahama Ayariga
“We listened to the Majority group leader move the motion pursuant to order 50(1), and Mr. Speaker, Order 50(1) as you are saying, is controlled by Order 50(2). Mr. Speaker, assuming without admitting that this is indeed the position, we did not hear you, Mr. Speaker, say that prior to coming to this Chamber, he had consulted you in a written statement. We did not hear you out before this House evidence of the written statement.
“Why is it that suddenly today, when we also seek to move, pursuant to this become an obstacle? If yesterday, a written statement was not necessary, and it was not displayed in this House, and you did not make reference to it in this House, how come today, a written statement has suddenly become so important?”
Haruna Iddrisu
May I, with respect, refer you to Order 50 (1) of our Standing Orders, which reads, at the time appointed under Order 50(2), any member may, with the full approval of Mr Speaker, move a motion on a specific matter of urgent public importance.
“Mr. Speaker, as is reported yesterday by the votes and proceedings which has just been adopted by you, I’m begging to move, with your indulgence, that the decision which was taken yesterday, in adopting purportedly the budget statement, subject to concessions in that statement was unconstitutional, in betrayal of our rules and Standing Orders, and in betrayal of the 1992 constitution.
“Mr. Speaker, particularly so, that you, in the chair, added yourself to the number of members who made a quorum. May I, with respect, Mr. Speaker, refer you to Order 48 of our Standing Orders. So, Mr. Speaker, I’m moving a motion for a recission that, that decision is illegal, that decision is unconstitutional, just as 137 cannot take a decision, the same 137 cannot take a decision.
“Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I listened to him from the comfort of my offices invoke the same Standing Orders. Mr. Speaker, let me refer you to Order 48(1) which reads, ‘The presence of at least one-third of all the Members of Parliament besides the person presiding, shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the House.
“So, Mr. Speaker, even adding yourself to the quorum yesterday itself is in betrayal of our Standing Order 48(1). And, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, as I followed proceedings, I did not hear the chair and the speakership acknowledge that there was any written statement seeking to use Order 50(1) by the Majority Leader.
“Mr. Speaker, let me also, with respect, refer you to our Standing Order 109, and it reads, and I’m interested in 109(2). You were presiding and therefore by the provisions of Standing Order 30, you assume the role and responsibility of the Speaker of Parliament of Ghana. And it reads:
“Mr. Speaker shall have neither an original nor a casting vote and if upon any question before the House, the votes are equally divided, the motion shall be lost. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, as I have seen on the Order Paper, we’re told on Friday, 137 could not take a decision and therefore, less one, with you in the chair, was 137. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, whatever decision was taken, to quote you, is null and void.”
In the following transcriptions, we bring you the submissions put forward by members on the Majority side in support of their controversial approval of the budget.
Majority Members
Adwoa Sarfo
“Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I rise on the point of order on the statement that has been made by Hon Ayariga, which is discriminatory and the constitution of this country is so clear. In fact, Mr. Speaker, you were ably voted for by the people of Bekwai, and it might interest our friends on the other side that I hail from that constituency, and I represent the people of Dome-Kwabenya in Greater Accra region.
“Mr. Speaker, to say that you are physically present here, and have a seat (sic) people of Bekwai, and for the Member of Parliament for Bawku, Hon. Ayariga, to say that you had no right to be in the Chamber is out of order.”
Samuel Abu Jinapor
“Mr. Speaker, with the greatest of respect, it is obvious that our national constitution risks being defiled. The provisions of the constitution on this matter is clear. Mr. Speaker, Article 102 and Article 104 are clearly distinguishable. And for the avoidance of doubt, let me repeat Article 102 and Article 104…
“A quorum of parliament, apart from the person presiding. Mr. Speaker, the emphasis is on ‘the person presiding,’ shall be one-third of the entire Members of Parliament. Mr. Speaker, it is needless to point out that this quorum, pursuant to Article 102, is quorum for conducting business.
“Mr. Speaker, in that respect, may I respectfully refer the House to the book written by the respected jurist, K. B. Ayensu and S. N. Darko, on an Introduction to the Law Practice and Procedure of Parliament of Ghana…
“Mr. Speaker, this is the distinction; the distinction is that, whereas in Article 102, the framers of the constitution, deliberately mentioned the person presiding for purposes of quorum for conducting business, in Article 104, the framers of the constitution, deliberately omitted mentioning the person presiding, for purposes of quorum.
“With the greatest of respect, a first year student of interpretation would have been taught the canon or tool of interpretation which states and I quote, ‘express mention of a thing implies the exclusion of all others.’”
Other major highlights of this week’s sittings in parliament are:
Joe Wise counts himself as the 138th MP
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, presiding over the House as Speaker on November 30, counted himself as the 138th MP in the Chamber, paving the way for a quorum to be formed.
This allowed for the House, with only Majority MPs present in it on the day, to pass a voice vote to overturn the Friday, November 26, 2021, decision that rejected the budget, and then again to approve it.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had caused to explain the reason his side of the House couldn’t reach a consensus with their colleagues on the Majority side.
The Minority MPs had earlier rejected the budget over a number of concerns about the introductions of certain taxes and levied that they described as obnoxious and they were willing to reach a consensus with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs to have them reviewed or completely taken out of the budget.
One of such taxes is the highly controversial 1.75% Electronic Levy expected to affect digital platforms such as Mobile Money.
Alleged impersonation of Adwoa Sarfo
The MP for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, was also in the news for most of the week. Having been away from the House since this meeting of parliament began, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs had raised several concerns of whereabout, making a claim too that should she not appear, they would continue to reject the budget.
On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, however, she showed up in the chamber of parliament but her appearance, as many of the Minority MPs have claimed, leaves room for many questions.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, is among those pushing the campaign that the Dome-Kwabenya MP, who is also the Minister of Gender, was impersonated on the day in the House.
From having little engagements with people in the House on that Tuesday, to walking out of the House just before the House rose, the MPs on the Minority side, including the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, have insisted, while assuring that they will get to the bottom of this, that Sarah Adwoa Safo was not in the House on the day the budget was supposedly approved.
NDC addresses the media
TWI NEWS
At a press conference after the controversial approval of the budget, the Minority MPs stated that it had become clear that consensus-building in the House had collapsed and as such, they would going forward, put every single issue in parliament to head count decisions.
The presser was addressed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.
Washawasay enters parliament
There were some fun moments however in all the chaos happening in the House.
The popular “whashawasay” rendition by gospel singer, Cecilia Marfo, found its way into the Chamber, even as MPs chanted it.
Adwoa Safo debunks impersonation rumours
Sarah Adwoa Safo was back to the House on December 1, 2021, but this time, without a face mask the entire time, and with even more interactions.
And then when she caught the eye of the sit-in Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, she used the opportunity to try to clear her image, insisting she was in the House.
She was however immediately challenged on the floor by the Minority Chief Whip who insisted, “very soon, we will get to know if indeed she truly was the one in parliament yesterday.”
MPs force Agric Minister to dress well
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie, was also in parliament on December 1.
The Minority MPs, led by the MP for Adaklu, mounted pressure on him until he walked out of the chamber to go get a flying tie to match his suit.
This was after the Minority argued that the minister was improperly dressed for the House, seeing that to wear a suit in the House, it is required that it goes with a tie.
A deputy speaker is not a Speaker
“A deputy speaker is not a Speaker.” These words by Joseph Osei-Owusu while presiding over the House on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, courted a lot of angst from the Minority MPs, leading to near fisticuffs when moments later, the sit-in Speaker ended proceedings by rejecting the application of the Minority to overturn the budget approval decision on the grounds that there was no quorum in the House to take that decision.
Chant of Speaker, rule quickly!
The MP for Damongo and Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, played two significant roles in the week in retrospect.
Firstly, he delivered his defense of the actions of he and his colleagues on the Majority side that saw to the approval of the budget, and then he followed it up with a somewhat command to the speaker when he called out, “Speaker, rule quickly!”
This was during the heated moments in parliament when tempers began to rise particularly when the Minority MPs were beginning to sense that the sit-in Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, was not going to work with them on their application.
‘Lone fighter’ Sosu spotted chanting peace amidst parliament chaos
And then there was your favourite MP and one of the most infamous ones at that right now; the Madina MP, Francis-Xavier Sosu.
As though to calm the storms within his own heart, and in the very heat of the chaos happening in parliament on December 1, 2021, he got up, turned on his microphone and zoomed right into his own songs, singing of the patriotism of Ghana.
All the while, he had his signature smiles littered all over his face, unfazed by anything else happening at the time.
