Parliament of Ghana has been adjourned to January 2, 2025, after Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam failed to present the highly anticipated 2025 Mini-Budget.
The Mini-Budget, a constitutional requirement, aims to provide a fiscal outlook for the upcoming year, addressing key economic issues such as revenue mobilization and expenditure priorities.
According to the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, “In the spirit of a good transition, it is expected that the outgoing president, acting under article 180 of the constitution, could have acted in good faith and brought before parliament a proposal for expenditure to cater for the first quarter of the year 2025.”
Ato Forson expressed disappointment over the Finance Minister’s inability to fulfill this crucial mandate, stating, “This was very important because the appropriation act for 2025 will not come into force on the 1st of January 2025. Sadly, President Akufo Addo planned to leave the public service uncatered for in the first quarter of the year, 2025.”
The Minority Leader assured that the NDC government will take office on January 7, 2025, and act swiftly to address expenditure for the first quarter of 2025, saying, “However, let me give an assurance to the people of Ghana and all stakeholders that the NDC government will take office on 7th January 2025, and we will act with dispatch to cater for expenditure for the first quarter of the year 2025.”
In contrast, Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin attributed the Finance Minister’s failure to present the Mini-Budget to the “lawlessness” of the minority group, stating, “The inability of the Finance Minister to present the 2025 Mini-budget to this House is due to the lawlessness of the minority group.”
Afenyo-Markin assured that the expenditure in advance of appropriation will be laid by the Finance Minister when the house resumes on January 2, 2024, saying, “However, I want to assure this house that the expenditure in advance of appropriation will be laid by the Finance Minister when we resume on January 2, 2024.”
BY Daniel Bampoe