Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu says the Minority in Parliament has an obligation based on constitutional ethics and integrity to "walk its talk" by insisting on the submission of a new 2022 Budget by government instead of an amendment of the previous budget, which they rejected.

In his latest epistle titled, "The shameless compromises of the one-party political elite against the Ghanaian electorate", the anti-corruption crusader said any decision by the NDC MPs to accept the old budget that was later approved by the Majority based on illegal rescission will be a betrayal and "sell out of its conscience and the people of Ghana."

"After the November 26, 2021 rejection of the 2022 Budget, any Minority sincerely believing in the cause of the suffering of the Ghanaian public, its opposition to the draconian budget and the reasons proffered for its rejection would not have bargained over the only option left for government: the submission of a new 2022 Budget and Economic Policy to Parliament for consideration and approval.

"Any subsequent consensus-building meeting attended by such a sincere Minority on the one hand, and the Majority with its accompanying Minister of Finance, on the other hand, would have had only one agenda item: negotiating common grounds to guide the preparation and submission of a new 2022 Budget to Parliament," he added.

Mr Amidu further alleged that the Minority has always been in bed with the Majority in the House when it comes to implementing the electronic transaction levy and some policies highlighted by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, hence the decision to boycott proceedings so the budget could be approved deliberately.

"The Minority which has now specialized in Orwellian doublespeak deceptions shamelessly compromised and sold out on the rejected 2022 Budget. It is now a matter of incontrovertible public knowledge that the Minority instead of insisting on the submission by government of a new 2022 Budget chose to enter an unholy compromise with the Majority and the Minister of Finance under the smokescreen of consensus-building on the morning of November 30, 2021, to absent itself from the actual Parliamentary sitting of November 30, 2021. This compromise by the Minority with the Majority “to stand in it alone” enabled the Majority to do with the parliamentary decision of November 26, 2021, rejecting the 2022 Budget as the Majority pleased," he explained.

The assertion by Mr Martin Amidu follows controversies surrounding the rejection and subsequent approval of the 2022 Budget by Members of Parliament.

On Friday, November 26, the Minority side of the House voted to reject the 2022 budget because, in their opinion, it will deepen the hardships being faced by the ordinary Ghanaian as the fiscal policy contains “obnoxious taxes”.

However, the Majority group on Tuesday, November 30, reversed the decision of the House arrived at on Friday, under the speakership of Alban Bagbin.

The Minority, who were unhappy with the move, then filed a motion of rescission on Wednesday, December 1, in an attempt to get the House to throw out the 2022 budget again.

But in his ruling on the motion by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, disagreed.

This led to a chaotic scene in the Chamber between the Minority and the Majority resulting in the formation of a 20-member committee to investigate the development.

Touching on this, the former Special Prosecutor said, "time will tell whether the Minority and the Majority in Parliament will repent from the great betrayal of the Ghanaian electorate at this solemn and difficult moment of hardship and poverty in our lives."

He also used the platform to laud Ghanaians and some stakeholders for ably resisting, disrupting, and throwing the shameless compromise of the one-party political elite against the Ghanaian electorate into disarray.

"Patriotic Ghanaians of whatever political persuasion deserve to congratulate themselves for standing up steadfastly against the unholy alliance between the Minority and the Majority to compromise the national interest by inflicting more economic hardship and poverty on We the People," he concluded.