MPs Blasted Over Unnecessary Interruption At 2019 Budget Reading

Pro-democracy group, 50+1 Percent has decried the “needless” interruption of the 2019 Budget presentation by the Members of Parliament (MPs).

Describing it as “archaic and undemocratic,” the group said the incessant noise by the lawmakers during the budget presentation sends a bad signal to the rest of the world about Ghana.

“We should be seen to be in an orderly society…This is not a sustainable democratic behaviour the electorate should countenance going into the 2020 elections,” 50+1 Percent said in a statement soon after the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta presented the government’s fiscal policy statement to the House on Thursday.

Mr. Ofori-Attah had to be rescued several times by Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, after he was repeatedly heckled during his presentation.

The noise made in the Chamber was a mixture of boos from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs and an expression of delight from their New Patriotic Party (NPP) counterparts.

The Finance Minister himself could not help but to laugh off the interruptions.

Reacting to the behaviour in a statement, 50+1 Percent said the scene has presented Ghanaians with the evidence to change some of the personalities in Parliament in the next election.

“We need to prune our representatives in the House by reminding the rest that our democratic experiment did not start today. The joke is becoming one too many for the political health of our society,” 50+1 Percent Executive Director, Isaac Kwame Batune said.

Although he conceded the heckling by lawmakers did not start with the present Parliament, Mr Batune said the time has come for the political leadership to exhibit some maturity.

“They [politicians] need to be serious in the discharge of their work as demanded of them by the electorate,” he said.