Parliament: Speaker Bagbin Cheered by Majority MPs As EC Estimate Approved, but Controversial E-Levy Still Holds

Parliament resumed today, Friday, December 17, 2021 to approve estimates for certain ministries. The brouhaha about the 2022 budget still hangs after Speaker Alban Bagbin yesterday ordered the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to reappear before Parliament and present concessions and modifications in the amended budget. Today’s sitting saw the Ministry of Foreign Affairs getting its budget approved.

A pressing matter that followed was the estimates for the Electoral Commission. It can be recalled the representatives from the EC were forced to go back and come back with the EC Boss, Jean Mensa. In today’s motion for the approval of the EC’s budget there was some controversy.

The Minority raised issues about the future of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL). According to Haruna Iddrisu, there was no clear indication about what will happen to the people in the SALL region. He wondered why the EC will come before the house when it had not addressed that issue.

However, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensa noted that according to the committee’s report, the EC had agreed to create a constituency in that area at the most practical time.

The speaker then raised questions about what was meant by practical time and called on the committee to give a precise date. He then called for a voice vote on the budget of the EC. There was a chorus of Ayes and Nos thus making the speaker call for another vote.

In the subsequent voice vote Alban Bagbin declared that the Ayes had won much to the dissatisfaction of the Minority caucus. As the Minority grumbled, there were shouts of May you live long Mr Speaker from the side of the Majority.

According to Bagbin, the Ayes had it because the Nos were just full of shouting and not based on number of voices present. To this effect a sum of 118, 612,000 was approved for the EC till ending of December 2022.

From Opera News