The Minority Caucus in Parliament has urged their colleagues on the Majority side to support their motion tabled before the House to impeach Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Minority in Parliament believes their counterparts should not stop at verbal pronouncements to have Mr Ofori-Atta removed but should back the calls with action.
At a press conference in parliament on Tuesday, October 25, First Deputy Minority Whip Ibrahim Ahmed revealed that the motion by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, was ready.
“We have the power to use 183 MPs to impeach him [Ofori-Atta]….Let us go inside and then go and do it, but if we don’t do this, then we reduce democracy to mere talk shop,” he said.
He claimed that President Akufo-Addo does not want to sack Mr Ofori-Atta because “Ken Ofori-Atta used his Databank [firm] to support his campaign to become president and therefore the Finance Ministry is a compensation”.
According to Mr Ahmed, President Akufo-Addo said this to ministers at a cabinet meeting.
“Now, they [Majority] has shown indication that they also don’t want the Finance Minister. It is a clear indication that the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has failed,” he stated.
Earlier on the same day, the Majority blamed Mr Ofori-Atta for the current economic challenges faced by the country.
Living conditions have gone up, the cedi has recorded huge depreciation against major international currencies, inflation has gone up along with increments in the prices of goods and services, and the country is saddled with huge debt.
At the moment, the government is engaging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance at a crucial time that governing administration enters its final year in power, ahead of the general elections in 2024.
There have been several calls from Ghanaians, including opposition parties, some CSOs and other critics, for the President to sack the Finance Minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta, as the nation grapples with harsh economic conditions.
But responding to calls for Ofori-Atta’s head, President Akufo-Addo, in an interview on Kumasi-based OTEC FM, said he cannot turn his back on the Finance Minister because he’s been excellent on the job.
“I came to office in 2017 under a stringent IMF programme. This same man was able to manage the affairs of our economy in such a way that in the first four years of my first term, we were one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with an average growth rate of 7% a year from the beginnings of an IMF programme.”
“An economy that allowed us to initiate the programme Planting for Food and Jobs. So somebody who has been able to do that and the current economic difficulties are not his fault. So how do I do that (sack him)? What will be the basis? What will be the rationale?”
