The MP for Cape Coast South, George Ricketts-Hagan, has highlighted the even distribution of seats between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the current 8th Parliament as a primary factor behind the delays in passing the mini-budget.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on December 18, Ricketts-Hagan explained that the current “hung” Parliament has created a challenging environment for lawmakers to make decisions.
He also noted that this situation has revealed weaknesses in Ghana’s constitutional system, which was not designed to manage such a balanced legislative body.
Reflecting on the tenure of the 8th Parliament, which will end on January 6, 2024, Ricketts-Hagan described it as an unprecedented phase in Ghana’s political history.
He emphasized that the equal division of seats between the two main parties has resulted in frequent deadlocks and increased partisanship, which has complicated the legislative process.
He also pointed out that the Constitution does not provide clear guidelines for managing such a split Parliament.
“The 8th Parliament has been a unique and interesting one. Having what is known as a hung Parliament has contributed to all the challenges that we are talking about. And it has also exposed certain gaps that we have in our constitution.
“We have gotten into the situation that we are in today as a result of this very [8th] Parliament because we have never experienced this situation in doing a budget because what normally happens is that the mini-budget is usually done before the elections.
“And it is usually done in November, and the assumption is that the government that is doing so will continue to be the government going forward, or the opposition party could become the government, and so there is some level of uncertainty that allows the current government to put that budget in a way like they may continue or they may not.”