A potential government shutdown looms as Parliament adjourned without reaching the reading of the mini-budget statement.

The development follows the Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam's absence from the chamber for the fifth consecutive day to present the critical motion.

There was no agreement on the key business the government intended to address, so the mini-budget was not presented.

The Vote on Account, a provisional financial measure, is essential for government operations until the full 2025 budget is approved by the incoming administration.

However, parliamentary proceedings were stalled when the Finance Minister failed to appear, leaving members, especially on the minority side frustrated.

Parliament has been adjourned to January 2, 2025.

Meanwhile, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has laid blame squarely on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament, accusing them of fostering chaos and obstructing consensus-building.

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The NPP leader lamented to journalists after the adjournment on December 20 that the NDC members were planning to exclude some key issues such as the Free SHS bill and the consideration of some judges from the order paper.

"Today we did the agendum, for some strange, mysterious reasons, the Free SHS Bill was taken off the order paper. I had to cause the reprinting of the order paper to have the Free SHS bill. Why are they against the free SHS bill? Why don't they want the Free SHS bill to be passed?" he said.

The mini-budget, which was expected to outline government expenditure and revenues in the interim period, remains unaddressed.

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