The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has advised lawmakers from the political divide not to take entrenched positions to frustrate government business following the stalemate between the Majority and Minority in Parliament over the approval of the 2022 Budget Statement.
The Asante monarch maintains the only way to meet the demands and the needs of the people was to introduce taxes and that a fierce opposition could cripple development.
Speaking at the launch of a Commemorative Gold Coin in his honour at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II urged the MPs to assume a compromise position to get the budget statement passed.
“There is no perfect government and there will never be as long as different points of view prevail.”
“And if we are honest, we will also agree that there are no people in the whole wide world who love paying taxes, and yet there is no other way conceived by the human mind by which government can raise the resources to provide our needs than taxes .”
He added “… But our representatives also need to bear in mind that it is not their role to either determine policy for the executive or frustrate them from performing their legitimate duties, the good thing is, in a democracy is that people listen, observe and weigh what their leaders do and pass judgement at the appropriate time…”
Several meetings held between both sides of the House to find common ground on the impasse on the 2022 Budget have resulted in a stalemate.
Compromise
The Minority caucus in Parliament has resolved not to support the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic policy of the government.
But the Asantehene said, it is about time the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament compromised on the matter adding, “Prudent way is to seek convergence of views; that across many jurisdictions today, one word has come to symbolize the livelihood and the soul of democracy. It is called compromise…through all the land proclaiming their faith in democracy, the name of the game is compromise.
“It makes sense; history and perhaps science too should tell us that when an irresistible force meets an immovable object, the inevitable outcome is chaos. When the art of governance becomes overly rigid and inflexible it invites the search for an irresistible force and an unorthodox part to resistance…”
He added, “we have moved on from the period where one political party dominated everything.”
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH