There were near fisticuffs in the House between Minority and Majority MPs after Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, directed all Ministers who are non-MPs to vacate the chamber.

The Speaker gaveled the House into readiness for voting on the 2022 budget at the insistence of the Minority.

The debate on the 2022 budget was concluded with remarks from both the Minority Leader and Majority Leader.

In his closing remarks, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu insisted that his side will not support the passage of the budget because of the electronic transactions levy.

On the other hand, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu berated the NDC, arguing they have no moral right to speak against the introduction of new charges because under their administration, many taxes were introduced.

The Speaker then directed all Ministers of State present in the chamber who are non-MPs to leave, but the Majority MPs disagreed with the Speaker's directive and walked out.

This forced the Speaker to suspend proceedings for 5 minutes.

Despite the walk out by the Majority members, the Minority insisted that the vote be taken.

The Minority Chief Whip, Muhammed-Mubarak Muntaka, explained that in previous instances where a side had staged a walkout, the business of the House had continued unabated.

But the Speaker disagreed. He said, despite the Majority's walkout, business of the House will proceed.

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