The Majority Caucus in Parliament have not disrespected the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin with the approval of the 2022 'Agyenkwa' budget, according to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

The Majority led by Joseph Osei-Owusu, Bekwai MP and First Deputy Speaker, sitting in as the Speaker reversed the rejection of the budget by the Minority.

Quoting the constitution and standing orders, some political pundits indicated that the MP for Bekwai was not eligible to vote since he was sitting in as the Speaker.

However, during Tuesday’s vote to overturn the ‘rejection’ vote, he counted himself as the 138th MP; giving the majority the numbers to pass the budget.

Speaking to this in an interview on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, also the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi said the “Speaker Bagbin has not been disrespected . . . this is not the first time a deputy speaker has corrected the actions of a Speaker”.




Difficulty in reaching a consensus

Meanwhile, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has admitted that overturning the rejection and approval of the budget without the minority will make consensus building difficult going forward, “but we all agree that we’re working in the interest of the country. We know it will be difficult . . . these are difficult things but we have to do it in the interest of the country”.

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