We can't sit beyond August 3 - Speaker asks Ofori-Atta to read mid-year budget before July 27

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, has asked Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to present the mid-year budget before the scheduled 27 July 2023 date since the house would rise sine die on 3 August 2023.

“The House has to rise before August 9 because there are commitments that the House cannot ignore which we will have to be part of”, Mr Bagbin announced in parliament.

He said: “Some of these commitments are international and some are domestic, so, we have to be on recess before that”.

“So, this is a notice to the Minister of Finance to try, as much as possible, to submit the mid-year budget and supplementary budget review earlier than being perceived because we have to work on it and approve it before August 10.”

“And, so, the last day we could get to convene and sit here could be only August 3, and we cannot go beyond that because even with the August 3, we would have been late to attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association [programme].”