Parliament Approves Budget

Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo

PARLIAMENT HAS approved the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government for the 2010 fiscal year, after a long and tortuous debate.

However, the Appropriation Bill is yet to be passed into an Appropriation Act to allow the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to access their financial allocations.

The debate, which lasted for five days, was nearly marred on the first day when the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and former NDC Propaganda Secretary, Fiifi Kwetey, made a comment that the economic (GDP) growth of 7.3 achieved in 2008 by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration was cocaine-inspired.

In the process of extricating himself from the statement, he rather compounded the situation with phrases, questioning the understanding and intellectual capacity of the former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and MP for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei.

Not taking kindly to Fiifi Kwetey's derogatory comments, members from the Minority rose from their seats to vehemently protest the Deputy Minister's verbal attack on Dr. Akoto Osei, who is also the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament.

He quickly withdrew and apologized to Dr. Akoto Osei after the Minority declared his statement as 'unparliamentary'.

The 2010 budget has been described by the Minority in Parliament as a rehashed document; uninspiring, with nothing new to give hope to poverty-stricken Ghanaians.

They also labeled the whole statement a “Team 'B” budget.

Making remarks to conclude the debate on the Budget on the Floor of the House, the Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin, debunked the allegation by the Minority that President John Atta Mills had violated the Constitution in reviewing the budgetary allocation of the Judiciary.

He said President Mills did not make any attempt to reduce the budgetary allocation of the Judiciary, Audit and Parliamentary Services 'as it used to happen in the previous years'.

The Majority Leader, who is also the MP for Nadowli West, stressed that the President, whom he described as a Professor of Law, has not in any way breached the Constitution as being said by the Minority side;

“This is because the budget submitted to the President was the same as one read by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor”.

“There is no breach of Constitution. The President did not even make any attempt to reduce the budget of the Judiciary”, he stressed.

During the debate on the Floor of the House, the Minority side revealed that President Mills has violated the Constitution by reviewing the budget estimates of the Judiciary.

According to them, the budget estimate sent to the President by the Judiciary was about GH¢99million, but he unilaterally reduced the amount to a little over GH¢52 million in the 2010 budget without the recourse to provision of the supreme law of Ghana, which is the Constitution.

The Majority Leader said much as the Minority side have the right to criticize the government with the intention to review the governance of the country, they should also give praise where it is due.

Citing the Communications Service Tax, which the Majority side christened 'Talk Tax' when they were in the Minority, Mr. Bagbin said even though they were against it, they voted for it.

He recalled, “Yes we criticized but voted for it”.

Responding to statement by the Minority that the 2010 budget is a continuation of the policies of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration, Mr.  Bagbin declared, “There is nothing wrong for the NDC to continue the policies of the NPP”.

Instead of the Minority commending the government for continuing its policies, he said, the latter was rather condemning the government, adding policies of previous regime must be continued for the betterment of Mother Ghana.

The government, he said, would continue to build a solid foundation to move Ghana in the right direction; “We have learnt our lessons and we want to put solid structures in place so that when we grow we will not stumble. That is why the 2010 budget has put in place courteous steps to achieve growth and stability”.

While lauding Members of Parliament for a successful debate, he urged them to work collectively to achieve the targets set in the budget.

Earlier, the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the budget lacked new ideas and that Ghanaians need to extricate themselves from the journey to nowhere, stressing “The 2010 budget was too general since it did not give attention to specifics and can be termed as 'Sakawa 2', Enkoyie”.

He called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, review the producer price of cocoa, explaining that the decrease in producer price of cocoa was encouraging farmers to smuggle it to neighboring countries. He suggested that the government look into better way to address the issue of loans to farmers at a commercial rate.

Winding up, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor thanked MPs for their suggestions, analysis and criticisms, promising to make good use of their opinions during the implementation.

By Sheilla Sackey