Abstain from vote of censure against Finance Minister – NPP to Majority caucus

The leadership of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) has directed members of the Majority Caucus in Parliament to abstain from a scheduled vote of censure being sought by the Minority Caucus against Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance.

A statement issued and signed by the General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frempong said the demand by the NDC Minority caucus to get the Finance Minister removed from office is ill-intended and aimed at derailing government’s efforts at resolving current socio-economic upheavals.

“By this directive, the leadership of the Majority Caucus especially the Whips are to ensure that no Member of the Majority Caucus partakes in this exercise by the Minority Group in Parliament,” the statement stressed.

According to the leadership of the NPP, sacking the current Finance Minister would be fatal to the course of government’s negotiation with the International Monetary Fund.

“The leadership acknowledges that the Minister for Finance is the leader of government’s negotiation team with the International Monetary Fund. Considering that negotiation with the IMF is nearly completed, the National Executive body of the Party strongly believes that the removal of the lead person spearheading the negotiation may adversely impact the progress made thus far.”

It further argued: “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, the NDC-led Majority Caucus objected to those calls and rose to the defence of Mr. Tekper, a clear indication that the NDC lacks credibility on this matter.”

The leadership of the NPP however assured MPs and the Ghanaian populace that there are ongoing internal engagements aimed at addressing legitimate concerns expressed by various stakeholders regarding the management of the economy, including calls for the resignation or dismissal of the Minister for Finance.

Parliament will on Thursday, November 10, 2022, begin the debate on the motion of censure filed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, for the removal of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Presenting the Business Statement for the week on the floor of Parliament last Friday, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the debate on whether the Minister of Finance should go or not remained a key feature for the week.

The motion of censure was filed last week Monday by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, for the removal of the Finance Minister.

The motion is embedded with a seven-point allegation as grounds for the removal of the minister.

Among the seven-point allegations embedded in the motion are a despicable conflict of interest ensuring that the minister directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and another unethical contractual advantage, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.