Odds Stakes Against NPP Majority’s Attempt To Overturn Budget Rejection

Attempts by the majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentarians to return to Parliament on Tuesday and overturn the House resolution that rejected the 2022 Budget has hit a snag with the existence of judicial precedence.

In 1979 the Supreme Court, while adjudicating a case, Tuffuor Vs Attorney General, refused to inquire into how Parliament went about its business.

Experts have brought up from the archives, the fact that 

Article 96, 97, 99, 103, and 104 of the Constitution, conferred on Parliament the freedom of speech, of debate and of proceedings in Parliament. 

This freedom, according to the constitution shall not be questioned in any court or place out of Parliament. 

“In so far as Parliament has acted by virtue of the powers conferred upon it by the provisions of Article 91(1), its actions within Parliament are a closed book,” the court had held.

Experts are pointing out that the independence of the Legislature as a branch of government, and this precedent make it impossible for the Majority to go to court over the vote that was held over the 2022 budget while they were out of the Chamber.

The NPP Majority side’s claim is that because the votes were cast after its members had staged a walkout of the Chamber, it means that the house did not secure at least, half of all MPs that are required to undertake the vote.

It would be recalled, that on Friday, the day of voting, all the 137 members of the Minority NDC side, had reported to Parliament, to the credit of Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak.

However, the NPP had struggled to marshal all of its 138 MPs for the vote. To buy time for this, the NPP had held caucus meetings after caucus meetings. 

They had even brought in the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who previously had been snubbing Parliament, to come and supposedly explain to both sides of the house why it was imperative to approve the budget even though the Minority had vowed to block it over the e-levy tax component and the non-allocation of funds to the Keta sea defense project.

The delay tactics forced the Speaker, to suspend sitting for 30 minutes. Even so, the NPP still could not marshal all of its members, a thing that has been blamed on the incompetence of Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh.

The Majority MPs would eventually come into the Chamber and ask that the Speaker still give them time, however, the Speaker refused and this refusal led to the Majority staging a walkout.

After they had done that, the issue was put to vote and all the 137 Minority MPs voted against the approval of the budget. Now the Majority is claiming the vote is illegal because they were not in the Chamber during the time of voting citing their rights under article 104(1) and Order 108(1).

But the wording of Article 104(1), explicitly provides for that votes on issues be done by majority MPs in Parliament – “except as otherwise provided in this constitution, matters in Parliament shall be determined by the votes of the majority of members present and voting, with at least half of all members of Parliament.”

Even though voting is done in the Chamber, the whole vicinity of Parliament, including the lobby where the Majority MPs had gone to after staging the walkout, is part of Parliament. Question marks have therefore come to dangle on their argument that at the time of the vote, the number of MPs available was not up to the required half.

Their case is worsened by the fact that before staging the walkout, the Majority MPs had clocked in their presence in the parliamentary attendance log.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the governance think tank, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has asked Ghanaians to laugh off threats by some Majority MPs to storm Parliament on Tuesday and overturn the rejection of the 2022 Budget.

In a write-up, he breaks it down, bolts and nuts, the technical and legal hurdles that the likes of Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, and Asokwa MP, Kwabena Tahir Hammond, are ignoring in their exuberant promise to overturn the decision by Ghana’s sovereign Legislature.

“So when you hear the noise from K.T Hammond and Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Please laugh some because sometimes having new comedians in town is somewhat refreshing…especially when they come in with fresh jokes,” Mensah Thompson writes.