The Minority in Parliament says that although their opposition to the approval of the 2024 budget failed, they have succeeded in proving to the public that the Caucus’ resolve was to protect the interests of ordinary Ghanaians.
Parliament approved the budget on Thursday after several postponements.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, the First Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, said his side will continue to oppose policies that would negatively impact businesses and burden Ghanaians.
“When the budget starts working, people will be asking about the impact of the taxes, but when that time comes, we will tell you [the public] that this is why we voted against ABCD. There were two things we were standing against; the first one was the restriction of import licensing, and the government saw wisdom in it and has withdrawn that. The second one is the budget and economic policy, and we put that to a vote. It was 138 for and 136 against, so it tells you that we were able to stand our ground and marshal our numbers, and these were the votes. Even if Gyakye Quayson were to be in the Chamber, it would have been 138 against 137.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Habib Iddrisu, said the Minority only put on a facade to gain public sympathy.
“The NDC [National Democratic Congress] and the Minority were just playing public politics so that people would know that they were fighting for this or that. But in actual sense, they just wanted to win public sympathy so that people would think that they were standing in for them. But everybody knows that nobody has been able to bring a lot of nuisance taxes than them; they are the best people to do it.”
Source: citinewsroom.com