The Minority in Parliament says it will not abandon its quest to reject the 2022 Budget.

According to Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, the resolve of the Caucus is aimed at safeguarding parliamentary procedure and holding the government accountable.

Thus, they will explore other avenues including waiting for Speaker Alban Bagbin to return and they will file another motion to challenge the approval of the budget.

In an interview with JoyNews, Mr. Muntaka said, “we believe that his (Joseph Osei-Owusu) refusal to admit that motion is very biased. The [standing] order he quoted 13(2) to reject the motion, in our view has no relation completely with the mission that we are demanding, so we are responding officially to him.”

“The Minority Leader is signing a letter to remind him that this is very unfair and we believe that he is abusing his office. He is leaving us with no other option than to wait for Mr. Speaker himself to return and then we will exploit that avenue,” he added.

This comes after First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu rejected a motion filed by Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu that sought to quash his earlier ruling for the approval of the 2022 Budget statement.

A letter to the Minority Leader read, “please refer to your communication dated 7th December, 2021 on the motion relating to a ruling of the Hon. First Deputy Speaker on Wednesday, 1st December, 2021.”

“The Hon. First Deputy Speaker, pursuant to Order 13(2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, has directed that I inform you that your motion is not admitted,” a letter signed on behalf of Joseph Osei-Owusu by Cyril K.O. Nsiah, Clerk to Parliament, said.

Meanwhile, the actions of the Minority Caucus have got many people talking over the conduct of members of both caucuses of the House.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, during the launch of a commemorative gold coin in his honour, cautioned the Minority Caucus against taking an entrenched position to frustrate government business. He also advised government to welcome useful inputs from stakeholders into the 2022 Budget.

However, Mr. Mubarak believes that the Minority is only playing its role to ensure that the government is kept in check and is honest and open about it.

“We have processes to follow, we cannot abandon that to say the electorates will have to wait till four years to be able to exercise their franchise. That is why within the four years, four budgets will have to come, four states of the nation addresses will have to come and when they come, it is our responsibility representing them, to do what is right.”