The Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin has issued a stern warning to Committees which will consider the 2021 budget estimates against approving such estimates with the figures offered by the president.
The speaker further disclosed that he will not forward the appropriation bill to the president for his assent when passed if negotiations are not done to find a common ground over the decision by the Presidency to reduce the budget by Parliament and the Judiciary.
“The budget is not for the executive, we have the final power to approve or disapprove and so what the constitution has done is for them to make recommendations and negotiate during the deliberations of the budget before the House.
“It is not for the executive to impose a ceiling on the judiciary or parliament, they have to do the proper thing. And so during the considerations of the [budget] estimate, particularly the committees concerned, take that on board and at the end of the day come and explain to us the negotiated figure and not the ceiling that has been given by the president, that is not the internment of the 1992 constitution.”
The Speaker of Parliament added, “If you do otherwise, I as your Speaker will not affirm any letter for submission to the President for his assent, I mean what I am saying.”
The Speaker’s threat comes after President Akufo-Addo decided to slash budget estimates for the Judiciary and the Legislature. The speaker during the presentation of the 2021 budget last Friday directed the caretaker Finance Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and the Vice President to convey to the President that any slash in the budget estimates for the two institutions will not be entertained.
Source: Ghanaweb
