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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Suame said the Speaker, Alban Bagbin does not have the powers to block the approval of the budget like he threatened.
The Speaker had said: âThe budget is not for the executive, we have the final power to approve or disapprove and so what the constitution has done is for them to make recommendations and negotiate during the deliberations of the budget before the House.
âIt is not for the executive to impose a ceiling on the judiciary or parliament, they have to do the proper thing. And so during the considerations of the [budget] estimate, particularly the committees concerned, take that on board and at the end of the day come and explain to us the negotiated figure and not the ceiling that has been given by the president, that is not the internment of the 1992 constitution.â
But Kyei Mensah Bonsu, who is also the Majority Leader in the house said a decision to block the budget doesn't reside with the Speaker.
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Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader
"I think this is not really a matter that, honestly, the Speaker should have spoken to the plenary. I think he should have continued the engagement. After all I am the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs; I'm also the Majority Leader. This is not a matter for the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry but it is for the Majority Leader", he said.
He added: "Maybe he could have sought my intervention to engage the Presidency. Truth is Parliament cannot make any request which indeed and in truth may perhaps go outside of what the basket of the national resources can contain. There is a reason why when we made the request, there will be this backstage consultation."