The Minority in Parliament says they will not boycott the 2023 budget reading scheduled for today. 

According to them, they are a responsible group and know the implications of such an action. 

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the country must run at all cost and they will not hamper that. 

However, he said their posture and conduct will depend on that of their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. 

“The country probably must run, will run and will not necessarily be grounded to a halt by an irresponsible Minority. 

“But we will watch the posture and conduct of our colleagues on the other side, and that will determine our body language. 

“Workers will have to be paid from a budget, the private sector will have to be assured from a budget, so we are looking at the substance, not the form. 

“But we know that we have no faith in the Minister for Finance”, the Minority leader said.

The embattled Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the 2023 Annual Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government on Thursday, November 24, before Parliament.

This is in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and section 21 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).

Ahead of the presentation, the Ministry of Finance said the budget would focus “on Government’s strategies to restore and stabilize the macro economy, build resilience, and promote inclusive growth and value creation”.

It added that the budget would feature updates on Ghana’s engagement with the IMF for an IMF-supported Programme; year-to-date macro-fiscal performance of the economy; the YouStart initiative under the Ghana CARES Programme; climate action strategies; fiscal measures and debt management strategies to ensure fiscal and debt sustainability and promote growth.

Earlier, some 98 NPP MPs in Parliament held a press conference to demand the dismissal of Ofori-Atta and threatened to boycott the presentation of the 2023 Budget if the Minister remains in office.

However, the New Patriotic Party’s executives held a meeting on Tuesday, November 22 to urge the NPP MPs to stand down on their demand to boycott the budget and the dismissal of Ofori-Atta.

According to an NPP communique signed by the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, and the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, the party has resolved that the President will act on the earlier demands of the MPs after the 2023 Budget has been read and appropriated.