Kwame Baffoe Abronye (2nd right) delivering his address
A GROUP that calls itself the Patriotic Forum for Accountable Governance (PaFFAG) has lashed out at representatives of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament over their supposed rejection of the 2022 National Budget and Fiscal Policy presented to the House by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to PaFFAG, the NDC was displaying insensitivity to the plight of the poor Ghanaian.
The Finance Minister on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 read out government’s spending plan for next year to Parliament.
On Friday, November 26, news emerged alleging that the NDC MPs, representing the Minority in the House, had rejected the 2022 budget following a walk-out by the majority NPP MPs – a situation that garnered various comments from the citizenry.
At a press conference jointly addressed by Collins Owusu Amankwa, former MP for Manhyia North Constituency and Kwame Baffoe Abronye, Bono Regional Chairman of the ruling NPP, the group asserted that Parliament must consider the Ghanaian values of nationalism, patriotism and statesmanship in their dealings, adding that the decision to approve or reject the budget was one that affected all Ghanaians and not the minority or majority.
The group said the minority in Parliament must take decisions that reflected the desires of their constituents and not a decision that would inflict pains on constituents.
The 2022 budget, according to the group, when approved, would not only provide development and create opportunities for all, but cater for the feeding of poor and needy Ghanaian school children; provide financial allocations needed to pay teachers, as well as doctors, nurses and other health officers. It said that will further provide for the allocation of funds for the over 571,000 students who recently successfully completed their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and waiting to enroll unto the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
The budget, the group added, when approved, would also enable government release money in paying innocent public sector workers; create numerous employment opportunities for the youth while providing start-up capitals for businesses thereby reducing the increasing rate of unemployment. It will also provide financial allocations to the construction of 111 hospitals in districts without proper health facilities to boost health care, fund the payment of agitated contractors, and boost agriculture through the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative while aiding the government in fulfilling its vision of distributing 7000 fertilisers to farmers nationwide.
“Per the foregoing points, it is clear that the minority in Parliament is playing cheap politics with a subject matter that seeks to affect the heart of almost all Ghanaians. The minority is seeking to inflict hardship on Ghanaians as a means to score political points”, the group stressed.
BY Nii Adjei Mensahfio