In a heated session on Wednesday, tensions reached a boiling point in Parliament as members of the Majority Caucus staged a walkout in protest of a disagreement over the voting method for the approval of the 2024 budget statement.
Despite the orchestrated walkout by the leadership of the Majority, not all members of the caucus were in agreement with the action.
Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei-Asare and several colleagues lingered behind, questioning the decision to leave the chamber.
The walkout occurred after the Speaker called for a headcount.
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The trigger for the dispute was Deputy Minority Leader Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah challenging the results of the voice votes and demanding a division—a move vehemently opposed by the Majority.
Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin argued that the Speaker had already ruled in favour of the ‘ayes’ votes.
However, Speaker Alban Bagbin clarified that his expression after the voice votes was an opinion, stating, “I said, I think the ‘yes’ have it.”
As the Majority MPs exited the chamber, the Minority side began chanting ‘Away, Away’ and ‘Bye-bye o, bye-bye o.’
Following the dramatic turn of events, the Majority leader addressed the media and accused the Speaker of stalling to allow absent minority members to enter the chamber. He asserted, “What is happening is that there are five members of the minority who are not here. So all that he is doing is playing for time to enable them to come to the Chamber.”
“What kind of attitude is this? That is why we left the Chamber for him, let him do his own thing.”
Minority leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, had a different opinion. He argued the Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) had been defeated in grand style and had to exit the Chamber shamefully.
According to him, the 2024 Budget has not been approved because the Majority lost the vote and are scared of the headcount process, and therefore decided to run away.
“In fact this is the second time in the history of Ghana, sensing defeat the Majority took to their heels. We’ve got them and we will get them again another day. The Majority did not have the numbers to approve their own budget.”
He named the absentee NPP MPs as John Kuma, Mavis Nkansah-Boadu who have traveled outside the country, and Kennedy Agyapong.
Ato Forson explained that the Minority is opposing the budget for very good reasons and stressed the side cannot allow the 2024 Budget to be approved in its current form because ordinary Ghanaians will be the ones to suffer.
He stated that as things stand now the 2024 Budget has not been approved and the Minority had carried the day and stressed it will win again tomorrow.