Audio By Carbonatix
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has commended President for conceding to Parliament’s request and reviewing the budgetary allocation for the legislature and judiciary.
Prior to the review, Nana Akufo-Addo through his Executive Secretary Nana Asante Bediatuo announced a ¢77 million slash in the estimate presented by the Judiciary and Judicial Service and over ¢119 million from the estimate of the Legislature.
Nana Asante Bediatuo explained that the economic challenges faced by the country led to the decision of cutting down the budget for the two arms of government.
The decision did not sit well with Mr Bagbin thus threatening to block the approval of the budget should President Akufo-Addo fail to backtrack on his decision.
The threats by the Speaker pushed President Akufo-Addo to make a quick U-turn and revise the budgetary allocation for the two arms of government.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, the Speaker expressed his appreciation stating that the review of the budget was the right thing the President did.
"I want to take this opportunity to thank his Excellency the President for his understanding and for doing what is right. this is what is required from all of us by the 1992 constitution and the laws that we have passed," he said.
Commenting on the reviewed budget, Mr Bagbin said that government has maintained budget estimates for the compensation, administrative and operational expenses of the House.
He, however, said the allocation for capital expenditure has been slightly adjusted.
“For the estimates of expenditure for parliament and the parliamentary services, this is what we submitted, compensation was ¢201,112,086, goods and services ¢205,027,688, administrative and operational expenses at ¢406,139,774. Capital expenditure (Capex) is ¢177,346,911. So the grand total is ¢583,486,685.”
Mr Bagbin said for government’s recommendation, “what is proposed for Capex is ¢117.5 million and so instead of the ¢583,486,685 submitted by Parliament and Parliamentary Service, what has been recommended by the President is ¢523,639,774.”
The Speaker who was pleased further expressed his gratitude to Akufo-Addo's pragmatic steps in finding common grounds for the allocation of the budget for the two arms of government.
"I will acknowledge this letter and convey our gratitude to his excellency the President for conceding to the request to do the rightful thing and for conceding and accepting it not just for parliament but for the Judiciary I think it something worthy of commendation," he said.
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