Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
Members of Parliament will on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, commence debate on the 2023 budget statement presented by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin made this known when he presented the Business statement for this week.
He said, “on November 29, 2022, it’s expected that the debate will focus on Finance, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, and Wednesday Communications, Energy, Roads, Works, Housing, Sanitation and Environment and Thursday, December 1, it will be Health, Youth and Sports, Education, Tourism, Culture and Chieftaincy,” he indicated.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori- Atta on November 24, 2022, presented the 2023 budget statement in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament is clear in its mind what Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta needs to do to get support for approval of the 2023 budget.
The NDC MPs are demanding a review of some revenue mobilization measures outlined in the budget such as scrapping the daily minimum threshold exemption for E-Levy and a further reduction in the rate to 0.5%.
Addressing a post-budget workshop for MPs in Ho over the weekend, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu warned the decision to freeze public sector employment and cut down of numbers admitted into teaching and nursing schools will further exacerbate the already worse unemployment canker.
The Tamale South MP warned though his side is willing to support the government’s effort in resuscitating the economy, the 2.5% increment in VAT rate will be treated with the NPP’s Kume Preko demonstration against the introduction of the tax in 1995 in mind.
Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensha-Bonsu however called on the NDC MPs to support the government’s effort in addressing the economic crisis arguing the NDC also in the past opposed things that have ended up benefiting the country such as the discovery of oil in commercial quantities.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta who described this year’s budget presentation as the quietest ever argued the revenue measures are necessary for the country’s economic salvation since borrowing is no longer an option.
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin on his part told the gathering that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has learnt a bitter lesson about the management of an economy.
According to the speaker, it has never happened that MPs from a minister’s own party will publicly demand his dismissal as has happened to Ofori-Atta.
He, therefore, called on the MPs to put the country and the welfare of its citizens first in their deliberations on the budget above partisanship.
The two-day workshop is to empower lawmakers and offer them insights into the 2023 budget as they ready themselves for the debate on the floor.
