Speaker of Parliament seeks 2% budget increase for Legislature, Judiciary

The Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Parliamentary Services Board, Rt Hon Alban Bagbin has proposed a two per cent cut for the total national revenue collected to be allocated to Parliament and the Judiciary uniformly.
According to him, the two arms of government are currently below a percentage each from the national revenue, thereby making them poor to operate to meet the expectation of the citizens.

Rt Hon. Bagbin, disclosed this at a two Post Budget workshop at Ho in the Volta Region, on Saturday, November 20, 2021.

He explained that the proposed two per cent of the revenue was to ensure that the Legislature was adequately resourced to fund its work.

Addressing Members of Parliament at the Post Budget Workshop the Speaker who look visibly worried about the poor resources of the Legislature and the Judiciary arms of government stated that, “We have been fighting for this for some time now.”

“There are three arms of government – the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are equal arms of government and must be treated as such,” the Speaker justified the two-person proposal.

Mr Bagbin noted that it was imperative for the elected representative’s body to carry out its work independently in the interest of the people and also to continue to attract persons with the right quality to become legislators.

He added that the 2022 Budget Statement and Financial Policy, should, therefore, receive the requisite scrutiny to prevent any possible overspending by the Executive.

The Post Budget Workshop is being organized to prepare the Members of Parliament ahead of the debate on the budget statement and the approval of the appropriation.