Kennedy Agyapong
THE MEMBER of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has appealed to the Majority Caucus to show good leadership by turning up in their numbers tomorrow to support the 2023 Budget Statement presentation by Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Finance Minister will be presenting the budget to Parliament for and on behalf of President Akufo-Addo on the authority of Article 179(1) of the 1992 Constitution, which commands the President to “cause to be prepared and laid before Parliament at least one month before the end of the financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Government of Ghana for the following financial year.”
Mr. Agyapong, who made the call, in a statement said, “Let us show leadership and demonstrate solidarity with the struggling masses of our people by turning out in our numbers to support the President’s proposed plan to put Ghana back on the path of economic recovery and triumph. Every NPP MP has to preserve and ensure that the agenda of the Akufo-Addo government for Ghana succeeds, otherwise, the people of Ghana would have no reason to return the NPP to power in 2024.”
“By this statement, I am also calling on the good people of Ghana to keep the faith and trust that the NPP government has the right plan, strategy, and requisite expertise to steer our country out of the prevailing economic headwinds.
“Over the last few days, however, I have become aware of a troubling public declaration of intention by some aggrieved New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament that they will neither attend Thursday’s sitting of Parliament nor have anything to do with subsequent Parliamentary discussions and debate on the 2023 Budget should Mr. Ofori-Atta be the Minister presenting it to the House,” he noted.
He continued that, “The said MPs have openly stated that they will only attend proceedings if Mr. Ofori-Atta, who they – rightly or wrongly – blame for the country’s prevailing economic difficulties, is removed from office. I find the said public declarations not only unfortunate but regrettable. I know fully well that calls for the sacking of Mr. Ofori-Atta reached the President in September, and he has given assurances that he will revisit the matter after the budget presentation and a successful end to Ghana’s ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”
According to him, the leadership of the Majority Group later issued a statement agreeing to the President’s request, “Therefore, the insistence by some MPs that they will not attend Thursday’s proceedings means no more than an attempt to blackmail or unduly force the hands of the President and or undermine his authority and agenda for Ghanaians. That cannot be right. The President is our leader and deserves the full benefit of the doubt if any.”
“In any case, we have all been elected as Members of Parliament to serve the best interests of the people of our individual and collective constituencies. Given the crippling economic crisis facing the people of Ghana and their businesses, it is the highest level of insensitivity towards the plight of our nation and her people for any elected representative or group of elected representatives to use their public offices to attempt to hold hostage efforts to address the economic problems facing all of us.
“Instead, the patriotic, urgent, compassionate and proper thing to do is first to help the government pass its budget and then later confront and address, if we must, the issue of who is fit or not fit to lead the Ministry of Finance,” he pointed out.
He said, “These are very challenging global times, with escalating energy and food prices pushing millions in Africa and elsewhere into extreme poverty and threatening the internal security of many nations, including ours. Ghanaians need, therefore, their elected representatives to show up for work and help them survive the worsening global economic turmoil. It is not the time to play political games or feed egos.
“I firmly believe that if there is ever any time that Ghanaians expect us to do our duty to Ghana unconditionally, it is now. We must not and cannot sacrifice that responsibility to our people on the side issue of who presents the 2023 Budget to Parliament.”