Parliament approves 2020 Budget amidst ‘boos and cheers’
Parliament has approved the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, after heated arguments from both sides of the House.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Wednesday presented the 2020 budget statement and highlights to Parliament, detailing the government’s programmes and policies for the year.
There was heated argument between the two sides before the budget was approved.
Key among the budget approval is the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who said the country had grown from strength to strength and transformed into an emerging market under the Akufo-Addo government.
He said when the government presented the 2017 budget, it consolidated six critical areas, and that for the last three years a lot had been achieved but was quick to add that more needed to be done.
“There was a difference between commitment and the fanciful, saying that over the past three years, the number of beneficiaries of the free SHS programme had increased,” he said.
The Majority Leader said since the NPP assumed power, the rate of economic growth had doubled and the people of Ghana were the better judges.
He indicated that the 2020 budget sought to consolidate the gains and create jobs for all, adding: “Indeed, it is a solid rock and I urge all to support the motion raised by the Finance Minister to approve the budget.”
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, on the other hand submitted that when the Finance Minister presented the budget to Parliament, he likened the achievements of the NPP government to the miracle of the three loaves and fish.
“Mr Speaker, miracles should be seen and felt by all Ghanaians, not a single person,” he said, adding, “Let the youth in Ghana feel the miracle by getting jobs, ” he said amidst boos and woos on the floor of Parliament.
He said the growth should spread geographically, adding that the minister had misled Ghanaians because what the NPP government had said in its manifesto was not what was currently being witnessed.
The Minority leader pointed out that on page 201 of the 2020 budget, the Finance Minister indicated that the government had improved the economic situation in the country, but that was inconsistent with prevailing conditions.
NDC’s 2020 budget forum
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a 2020 budget forum at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
The forum which sought to project the party’s views and perspectives on the budget as presented by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to Parliament last Wednesday reiterated the need to create a common platform to emphasize on what the NDC calls “exposing the lies” of the sitting government.
“As a responsible Political Party and a government in waiting, we shall use this platform to constructively dissect and expose the several distortions contained in the Budget and justify why it must fast-track the exit of the deceptive, insensitive, corrupt, nepotistic and non-performing Akufo-Addo government, ” speakers at the forum had noted.
Background
During his presentation of the budget, Ofori-Atta revealed that it would review the country’s tax exemption policy and indicated that a lot of resources were lost to exemptions, hence the need to straighten them out and make the exemptions count.
He said the government’s flagship programmes, including the free SHS and Planting for Food and Jobs, would receive dedicated funding and gave an assurance that the government would ensure that the roads were fixed.
The government, the minister noted, was thinking structurally about tax reforms and added that it was focused on its export drive and doing things that would place the country in a position of real growth to bring about the needed employment opportunities.
Click on the link to read the full 2020 budget statement