Member of Parliament for Krachi East in the Oti Region Hon.Wisdom Gidisu says the minority approved the principles of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to avoid the NPP blaming them for crushing the country if the economy continues to collapse.
Speaking on Ahotor Fm’s morning show Adekye Mu Nsem, Hon.Gidisu said “The ‘I’s have it the Speaker used to declare that the budget is approved is a procedure in parliament, he has that power”.
“The budget is empty it will just add more hardships on Ghanaians, there are few things we like in the budget but majority of the things in the budget is needless” He told Citizen Kofi Owusu.
Hon. Gidisu opined that building a Cathedral in Ghana’s current economic situation will not even make God happy.
“God won’t be happy if you build a house for Him while His children are hungry, building a house for God is good but the timing is wrong”.
Hon. Gidisu said, the 2.5 VAT increment, allocation of funds for the construction of the National Cathedral and the Personal Income Tax are some of the things in the budget that needs to be looked at again.
Parliament approved the 2023 Budget despite opposition from the Minority on the revenue mobilization measures.
The House has been debating the statement since November 29, after it was presented by the Finance Minister.
During the final day of debate, the Minority group raised concerns about some of the revenue generation measures, including the removal of a threshold on the Electronic Transaction Levy and a 2.5% increase in VAT.
The approval paves the way for estimates for ministries, departments, and agencies, (MDAs) to be referred to the various committees for scrutiny.
But Hon. Gidisu told Citizen Kofi Owusu that the scrutinizing of the budget at the committee level is where Ghanaians will know if the budget will be approved or not.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh / Ahotoronline.com