Parliament approves 2008 budget) (Parliament approves 2008 budget)

Page 14, Dec 6, 2007
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
PARLIAMENT yesterday approved the 2008 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government presented to it by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, on November 15, 2007.
The House approved the document by consensus.
When the Speaker, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, put the question, “That this Honourable House approves the Financial Policy of the Government for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2008”, all the MPs shouted “hear, hear” without any dissenting voice.
The debate on the budget, which began on Monday, November 26, 2007, was done initially along partisan lines, with both sides of the House either praising the budget or condemning it outright.
It was, however, heartening that most of the MPs who contributed to the debate in the later stages based their arguments on issues rather than on political lineage.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, expressed happiness about the trend of the debate on the budget.
“The debate on this year’s budget was better than last year’s,” he said, adding that more MPs had the opportunity to contribute to the debate.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, said MPs from both sides of the House did their home work well before contributing to the debate.
He said most of them focused on issues, and that actually enriched the quality of the debate.
Professor Gyan-Baffour attributed the situation to the post-budget workshop which was organised for the MPs, who in the process, met people who were involved in the preparation of the budget face to face.
He said this enabled the MPs to know the rationale behind the policies and programmes in the budget and thus empowered them to speak from an informed background.
Speaking to some members of the Parliamentary Press Corps later on whether the current government could present the 2009 budget before President Kufuor left office, the Majority Leader, Mr Abraham Ossei Aidooh, said the President had the constitutional mandate to do so.
He referred to Article 179 (1), which reads: “The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before Parliament at least one month before the end of the financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Government of Ghana for the following financial year”.
Mr Aidooh said, however, that since the next Parliament would not be bound by decisions taken by the present Parliament, it would be advisable for the President to go by Article 180 of the constitution.
The Article stipulates thus: “Where it appears to the President that the Appropriation Act in respect of any financial year will not come into operation by the beginning of that financial year, he may, with prior approval of Parliament, by a resolution authorise the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on services of the government in respect of the period expiring three months from the beginning of the financial year or on the coming into operation of the Act, whichever is earlier”.
Meanwhile, the House yesterday approved a 10 million euros loan agreement between the government and the Federal Republic of Germany.
The loan is Germany’s contribution to the Multi Donor Budget Support (MDBS), which was signed by Ghana and her development partners in June, 2003.
The MDBS seeks to support the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II).