The parliamentary debate on the 2013 budget statement of the government on Thursday took a sharp twist into a grey area of gayism when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Mampong, Francis Addai-Nimoh, said he was taking a cue from President John Mahama when he told the Speaker of Parliament that he loved him so much for making a ‘favourable’ ruling on a point of order raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Nanton, Murtala Mohammed.

This was after the Deputy Speaker Of Parliament, Ebo Barton Odro, who was then in the chair, had ruled on a point of order raised by the NDC MP for Nanton that his interjection into Mr Addai-Nimoh’s contribution was debatable.

As soon as the Mampong MP made that comment about the speaker, the Majority Chief Whip and NDC MP for Bodi, Sampson Ahi, got up and asked Hon Addai-Nimoh to clarify his statement of ‘loving the speaker so much’ since he (the speaker) is a male, because in these days of gayism, some people might misconstrue his statement to mean there are gay MPs in Parliament.

In his answer to Mr Ahi, the Mampong MP said, “Mr Speaker, this was on a lighter note but if Hon Ahi wants me to explain then probably I was taking a cue from the President”.

This statement instantly swept almost all the majority members to their feet who either wanted to reply the Mampong MP or seek further clarification from him but the Deputy Speaker of Parliament said the Mampong MP had gone ‘far’ and must therefore withdraw his statement and apologise to the President for the reference he made to him (president).

Hon Addai consequently did that before calm was restored to the House.

In his contribution to the debate, Mr Addai-Nimoh criticized the theme of the budget and said it was very misleading and misplaced.

According to him, the theme of the budget “Sustaining confidence in the future of the Ghanaian economy” could not be apt because most sectors of the economy either recorded negative growth or did not show any growth at all.

According to him, the huge arrears that have to be paid to service providers and the deficit to the tune of GHC8.7billion did not connote any confidence in the economy.

“We have serious power outages which are affecting business and water crisis which are having negative impact on the economy so how can one have confidence in the economy?” he questioned.

The MP therefore said the theme of the budget should be changed by Parliament.

In line with that he proposed that the budget be themed, “Restoring Confidence in the Ghanaian Economy” which would most appropriately describe the budget.