Deputy Minority whip defends Minority leadership of Parliament over Ofori-Atta's approval

Ahmed Ibrahim has defended the minority leadership of Parliament over the recent approval of Ken Ofori-Atta as the Minister of Finance.

He, however, called on NDC party members not to begrudge the NDC MPs.

Speaking to Joy FM in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the Deputy Minority Whip in Parliament said it would be unwise to bring someone else in to inherit the ‘mess’ he suggested Mr Ofori-Atta created in his first term as Minister.

According to him, a new Minister of Finance will be making excuses when questioned about projects that were not managed under their tenure.

Ibrahim further argued that when the NPP government was sworn on January 7, 2017, economic indicators were in the positive but, “four years down the line, the minister of finance himself, all his economic indicators are in the negative, the economy has grown about 0.9%”.

“If you change him and bring a new person, the kind of excuses he will be giving will be ‘you know I was not responsible for that.' So, if he says that he is the best man for the economy, then let Ken Ofori-Atta be the minister and we will see the kind of growth figures that he will churn out.”

He said the Minority Caucus did not make a wrong decision in retaining the Finance Minister adding that Ken Ofori-Atta needs to stay in position and answer to some of his decisions.

“One should not begrudge the leadership as if it was a wrongdoing to pass the minister so they should let cool heads prevail,”

Ahmed Ibrahim noted that with the reappointment of Ken Ofori Atta as the Finance Minister, he will take responsibility for his decisions and answer to parliament on some controversies at the Public Interest and Accountability Committee.

“This is the time that the House can compel Ken Ofori Atta to give accurate figures on what the real foundation of the economy is. You don’t allow him to go and sit in the house and you come and ask someone else who will say that ‘I was not the Minister for Finance then,” he stressed.