I will reject Akufo-Addo’s 2021 budget- Bagbin threatens
Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin has revealed that, he will reject the 2021 budget if the committees approve such estimates with the figures offered by the president.
According to him, 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.
He
added that, they 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 noted that, “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.
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