The Minority in Parliament maintains its strong opposition to the approval of the 2024 budget, despite the scheduled vote on Thursday, December 7.
According to the NDC MPs, the current form of the budget does not offer hope to Ghanaians and, instead, imposes extreme hardships.
Dr Clement Apaak, Member of Parliament for Builsa South and Ketu North, expressed this stance to the media, emphasising their commitment to ensuring the budget does not pass.
“We have not changed our position, the reasons why the NDC side decided to vote against the 2024 Budget are still the same and we have made it clear through our leader, Ato Forson that we are opposed to the budget because of the taxes embedded in the budget. Those taxes will increase the hardships that Ghanaians face,” Dr Apaak said.
On November 30, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin directed the business committee to reschedule the headcount to today for a final decision to be taken on the budget.
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This was after the Speaker on November 30, reaffirmed his stance that the 2024 budget statement and economic policy had not been passed.
The Majority had staged a walkout during the approval of the statement, claiming the Speaker was conducting himself in an unfortunate and improper manner.
According to them, the Speaker, in his utterance following a voice vote on the floor, had ruled in favor of the Majority side, only to beat a retreat after the Minority had challenged the voice vote and demanded a headcount.