Censure motion: Majority’s walkout smacks of selfishness, unpatriotic – Apaak  

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has described as unpatriotic the walkout in Parliament by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament on the vote of censure against Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Minority in Parliament’s Censure motion for the removal the embattled Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has failed as less than 183 MPs voted to remove the Minister.

A total of 136 National Democratic Congress MPs voted on Thursday calling for the removal of Mr Ofori-Atta but the number did not meet the two-thirds constitutional requirement for the motion to succeed.

The NPP Members of Parliament who were not in support of the motion from the Minority earlier walked out of the Chamber.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Mensah, who led the walkout stated that the Majority caucus will not support the censure motion describing it as baseless and politically motivated.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Apaak indicated that Ghanaians will now know the hypocritical nature of the NPP Members of Parliament.

“The rather selfish and unpatriotic decision by the NPP in Parliament to walkout out, rather than join us to vote to remove Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, we all say must go, is the end of consensus in Parliament as far as I’m concerned.

“The same NPP MPs who said they wanted Ken Ofori-Atta gone, walked out before the vote to censure Ken Ofori-Atta. By their walkout, our 136 votes fell short. Ghanaians now know those keeping Ken Ofori-Atta in office, NPP MPs,” the lawmaker stated in a tweet Thursday December 8, 2022.

However, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu speaking on the floor noted that the censure motion by the NDC side was intended to embarrass the Finance Minister.

“You (the Minority) want us to follow you on this misadventure. Mr. Speaker, like Pontius Pilate did, we will wash our hands of this,” he stated.