Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has tasked Members of Parliament (MPs) to realise themselves as the hope of the citizenry and work to lift their spirits to contribute meaningfully to nation building.

He observed that the spirits of citizens were low and they must be seen working to uplift their spirits so as their constituents would support and assist them in transforming their constituencies.

“What do we do to bring up the spirits of the people? Parliament is their hope to meet their aspirations and we cannot afford to fail them, and while certain factors are important, I think there is the need for us to go beyond that,” Mr Bagbin stressed.

He cautioned against the use of the words‘politics and politicians’, which sounded sour in the mouths of many Ghanaians, adding that, “I can tell you the word politics or politician now sounds sour in the mouths of many Ghanaians and they do not want to hear it at all, but we cannot do without it.”

According to Mr Bagbin, Ghanaians are unhappy about politics and politicians and using the analogy of taste, he noted that, on November 16, 2021, many citizens had sour tastes in their mouths when it came to politics and politicians.

The presentation of the 2022 budget statement before Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21 (3) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, (Act 921), is termed as the most anticipated budget in the country’s history. The budget is said to focus on expanding economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Finance, ahead of the budget reading, in a statement hinted the budget will among other issues dwell on creating a climate-friendly entrepreneurial state to address unemployment, import substitution, digitalisation of the economy, knowledge and skills development and entrepreneurship among key issues in the presentation.

Mr Ofori-Atta had stated that, the government was committed, dedicated and determined to putting in place measures that would help deal with the unemployment situation in the country, as well as recent challenges and problems with employment of fresh graduates for the public sector.