The majority caucus in Parliament has been instructed by the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to abstain from a planned vote of censure being requested by the Minority Caucus against Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance.
According to a statement released and signed by Justin Kodua Frempong, General Secretary of the NPP, the NDC Minority caucus’ request to have the Finance Minister removed from office is misguided and meant to thwart the government’s efforts to address the current socio-economic upheavals.
The Majority Caucus leadership, in particular the Whips, are required, according to this direction, to make sure that no Member of the Majority Caucus participates in this exercise by the Minority Group in Parliament.
The leadership of the NPP claims that dismissing the present Finance Minister will ruin the progress of the government’s talks with the International Monetary Fund.
“The leadership recognizes that the Minister of Finance is in charge of the government’s negotiating team with the IMF. The National Executive body of the Party strongly believes that the replacement of the principal negotiator could negatively affect the progress gained thus far given that the negotiation with the IMF is almost finished.
The NDC-led Majority Caucus objected to those calls and defended Mr. Tekper, a clear indication that the NDC lacks credibility on this issue, the statement continued. “It is worth noting that when similar calls were made for the head of Mr. Seth Tepker, the then Minister for Finance during the socio-economic turbulence under the erstwhile Mahama administration in 2015, they rose to the defense of Mr. Tekper.”
However, the NPP’s leadership reminded MPs and Ghanaians that continuous internal discussions are taking place to address the valid concerns voiced by many stakeholders regarding the administration of the economy, including requests for the resignation or firing of the Minister of Finance.
On November 10, 2022, Parliament will start debating the motion of censure Haruna Iddrisu submitted calling for the resignation of Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance.
The controversy over whether or not the Minister of Finance should resign was still a major topic of discussion when the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, presented the Business Statement for the week on the floor of Parliament last Friday.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, submitted the motion of censure demanding the resignation of the Finance Minister on Monday of last week.
A seven-point complaint that serves as justification for the minister’s dismissal is included in the motion.
One of the seven charges in the motion is a heinous conflict of interest that ensures the minister directly profits from Ghana’s economic difficulties as his companies gain commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, especially from Ghana’s debt overhang.