The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has rejected calls for his dismissal and called on Ghanaians to trust in his competence and ability to rescue Ghana’s ailing economy.
Mr. Ofori-Atta has been under intense pressure from parliamentarians within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Ghanaians, in general, to leave his post for mismanaging the economy.
But speaking at a meeting with the Association of Ghana Industries, Ken Ofori-Atta said Ghana remains the best destination to do business.
“Let me assure you that you have a Finance Minister who has gone through all the pains and the aches, and nobody can really say we don’t understand what we are doing. The question is what resources do we have and how are we going to deploy them in the nation that we have and how do we stand firm in very difficult circumstances but being very confident?”
“Let me assure you all that your best bet is still Ghana; we can do it, and we should do it,” the embattled Finance Minister said.
NPP MPs want Ofori Atta sacked
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu on Thursday disclosed that all the MPs in the New Patriotic Party Caucus in Parliament want the Finance Minister out of office.
After a recent meeting, the Suame MP said the whole caucus now supports calls for the Finance Minister to resign or be sacked.
“Even though the issue started with a group of 80-plus, the caucus meeting aligned with the decision of that group.”
“So it is no longer the cause of the 80-plus group. It is the agenda for the entire caucus,” Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said to journalists in Parliament.
Akufo-Addo begs MPs
President Nana Akufo-Addo last week pleaded with NPP MPs of his party demanding Ofori-Atta’s exit, to give his cousin some respite, so he concludes the ongoing bailout talks with the IMF, which are likely to be concluded in about a month.
The president tabled the plea when he met the angry MPs over their demand at the Jubilee House Tuesday, October 25.
Ghana is seeking a $3-billion extended credit facility from the Bretton Woods institution to restore her ailing economy to good fortunes.
The Majority caucus gave the president an ultimatum to dismiss Mr. Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Charles Adu Boahen, or they will boycott the 2023 budget hearing and other government businesses on the floor of parliament.
The caucus, led by spokesperson Andy Appiah Kubi, MP for Asante Akyem North, issued the ultimatum within the precincts of Parliament on Tuesday, 25 October 2022 when the house resumed sitting after a long recess.
He told the parliamentary press corps: “We are members of the majority caucus of the parliament of Ghana and we, here so, present; represent a greater number of the said caucus.”
