[ 2015-11-25 ]

Debate on the 2016 budget begins Wednesday amid complains about time restrictions
Debate on the 2016 budget and economic policy of
government will start Wednesday in Parliament.

Majority chief whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak says
the leadership and Chairmen of all the committees
in Parliament will have 15 minutes whiles other
members will have 10 minutes each.

For the moving and seconding of the motion, the
Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Ranking
member on the finance committee will both speak
for 20 minutes each.

However, some members of parliament said the time
restriction will not encourage thorough debate on
the budget.

Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Joe Osei-Owusu
said “this chamber is a chamber of debate
and on such an important document as the budget
statement, we should move away from limiting the
amount of time one person is allotted.

“This is the time to show what it is that is
not going well and how incompetently the economy
has been managed and if we are going to be able to
demonstrate that we are actually wide awake and
not asleep, five and ten minutes allocation is not
enough”, he added.

However, the Speaker of Parliament, Doe Ajaho says
there’s the need for time to be allocated
because “there is no Parliament where you
can take the whole year debating and debating,
there is always a limit. If you allow that then
the House will descend into anarchy”.

The Minority MPs during Last Friday’s
presentation described the budget as “dead
goat budget”.

They flashed sheets of papers with the inscription
to register their displeasure on the the budget on
the floor.

Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, while
seconding a motion moved by the Majority Leader
Alban Bagbin to bring Friday’s proceedings
to a close said, “in seconding the motion, I
just want to observe that the Finance
Minister’s presentation was full of
perspiration but very little inspiration. A
trust-betrayed budget; a dead-goat budget offering
no relief to Ghanaians”.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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