Budget 2023: NPP leadership brokers deal with Majority Caucus
MPs of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have resolved to be present in Parliament when the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, presents the 2023 Budget tomorrow. They announced their decision after a meeting with the party’s Council of Elders and the leadership.
The Majority Caucus in Parliament wants President Nana Akufo-Addo to sack Ofori-Atta over the current economic turmoil, hoping that the action will “restore confidence” in the system.
After a crunch meeting over the matter on Tuesday (22 November), the Majority Caucus agreed to put aside all their grievances and make it a point to attend, participate and approve the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government, said a statement signed by the party’s general secretary, Justin Frimpong Koduah, and the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh.
“The meeting agreed that the President will act upon the initial request of the NPP Parliamentary Caucus” after the Budget has been approved and following the conclusion of negotiations with the IMF for a US$3 billion bailout in budgetary support.
The Budget is scheduled to be read on Thursday 24 November 2022.
Suicide mission
Meanwhile, a former chairman of Parliament’s finance committee, Mark Assibey Yeboah, has declared that it would be “suicidal” to remove Ofori-Atta from office “at this crucial hour”.
He appealed, therefore, to those New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs who demanded Ofori Atta’s removal in the rebellion of 25 October and indicated their intention not to support the 2023 Budget hearing, debate, approval of the estimates and the passage of the Appropriations Bill to reconsider their posture.
He said time was of the essence because, under parliamentary rules governing the Budget, it is clear that the statement ought to be presented to Parliament on or before 15 November every year.
Source: Asaaseonline.com
