Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Isaac Adongo has said that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has overstayed his welcome as a Minister.
Mr Adongo believes the censure motion against the Finance Minister is long overdue, adding that the sector minister should have left office two years ago.
He wonders why the sector minister has taken it upon himself to serve Ghanaians when nobody is begging him to stay on after his “massive failures and recklessness”.
“The Finance Minister has violated the Public Financial Management Act, particularly in respect of expenditures on the National Cathedral. The National Cathedral is a capital project with a multi-year financial commitment to the state. The Public Financial Management Act provides the rules under which those activities must be carried out.
“But since 2019, we have been spending on a project when we still do not have a commencement certificate to that effect. And you still want to be Finance Minister? This is a total breach. He is in breach of his own bible. In preparing the budget and committing the state to certain responsibilities, the Finance Minister must issue a comprehensive report on the fiscal and macro-fiscal risk on the state also, indicate the debt sustainability and contingent liability, but he failed to do so.
“Today, the Finance Minister is saying he has not been preparing the debt report…Today investors are losing their investments because of his recklessness. The capital market has collapsed and he announced the funeral. The Minister wants to still sit there while people lose their interest, while people are crying, he should have left yesterday.”
The Bolgatanga Central MP said this when he contributed to the debate on the censure motion against the Finance Minister in Parliament on Thursday, December 8.
Mr Adongo insists the Majority of Ghanaians do not want Mr. Ofori-Atta to continue as the Finance Minister due to the ditch the country finds itself.
“We voted for you, we gave you the job, and we are saying we don’t want you anymore; is it by force for you to serve us? Please, the Finance Minister should do the honourable thing and give another person an opportunity. He should resign,” he said with his colleagues chanting ‘Ken Must Go, Ken Must Go’.
Adding his voice, the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam MP Cassiel Ato Forson said it had become crucial for the Finance Minister to step down from office due to economic hardships.
Dr Forson explained that the Minority’s censure motion against the Minister has nothing to do with Ofori-Atta’s personality but rather his management style.
“We believe that all that Ghana is going through was avoidable and is still avoidable…Clearly, the time for the Minister to leave is now, and this is for the simple reason that he has destroyed our means of livelihood.
“Mr Speaker, this is a minister who inherited a Debt to GDP of 55.6%, and at the time there were no ESLA bonds, at the time there was no Sinohydro loan, at the time cocoa bills were less than 1.2 billion cedis. But when he became the Minister, arrears owed to contractors was 2 billion cedis. The story today is far worse.
“If you go to COCOBOD, today the bill is 15 billion Ghana cedis…how? Clearly, he has mismanaged the resources. He must leave now,” he added.
Background
It will be recalled that on October 25, 2022, the Minority in Parliament filed a censure motion against the Finance Minister in compliance with Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
The Minority explained that the decision was based on the “alarming incompetence resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy” and some ethical breaches.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu insisted the record inflation rate, depreciation of the cedi, excessive borrowing, reckless spending, and the failure to control fuel prices were clear indications that the Finance Minister was not fit to continue in his role.
Although the Majority had earlier declared its support, it made a u-turn, claiming the Minority’s motive for removing Ofori-Atta was ill-intended and ultimately differed from their demands.
The committee, composed of eight members, with four from each side of the House, was expected to submit its report for consideration within seven days.
NDC Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine, and NPP MP for Adansi-Asokwa KT Hammond were committee co-chairs.
The Minority in Parliament stated the following as the basis for which Mr Ofori-Atta should be removed:
1. Despicable conflict of interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.
2. Unconstitutional withdrawals from the consolidated fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral.
3. Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 constitution.
4. Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament.
5. Fiscal recklessness, leading to the crash of the Ghana cedi, which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world.
6. Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis.
7. Gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, which has occasioned untoward and unprecedented hardship.