Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) features strongly in the 2024 budget.
He says he sees the hands of the Bretton Woods institutions in most of the provisions in the budget statement presented to Parliament by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, November 15.
Speaking at the ‘Speaker’s Breakfast Forum’ in Accra on Monday, November 20, Mr. Bagbin indicated that Ghana’s Parliament would not be dictated to by the IMF, especially regarding the passage of bills such as the Affirmative Action Bill.
He was against the introduction of the bill under a certificate of urgency, saying that there are several stakeholders to be consulted to get their buy-in before the passage.
“As I have indicated even in this budget, you can see the arm of the IMF in a lot of the provisions in the budget. A critical bill like the Affirmative Action, and Gender Equality Bill has come to Parliament under a certificate of urgency, please it won’t happen, we won’t pass it under a certificate of urgency.
“There are critical stakeholders we must consult and make sure we go together, we will not be dictated to by the IMF, that one, you can be sure. Not this bill. This is a very critical bill that the IMF itself should know that we need the buy-in of the stakeholders to be able to implement it,” he said.
He added “The IMF should know that the Inter-parliamentary Union has fixed 2040 for all parliaments in the world to reach gender parity, 50-50. Not only in Parliament, but outside Parliament and we need to deliberately focus on it”