Failed censure vote: 'NDC MPs chose to align with suffering Ghanaians' - Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has lauded minority MPs for not “chickening out” during the secret balloting to get the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta removed from office.

This comes after efforts by the minority to get Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta removed from office through the censure vote hit a snag.

This was as a result of failure of the motion to obtain the constitutional two-thirds of membership of the House.

The majority of MPs staged a walkout before voting started.

Following the secret balloting, which was conducted in the absence of the Majority Members (MPs), who staged a walkout to protest the motion, 136 NDC MPs voted, with no abstentions or ‘No’ votes.

“The vote is accordingly lost,” Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin stated.

After the secret balloting, done in the absence of the Majority Members (MPs), who staged a walkout to have nothing to do with the motion, 136 NDC MPs voted while there were no abstentions nor ‘No’ votes.

“The vote is accordingly lost,” Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin stated.

Reacting to the issue in a tweet, Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa No matter the outcome, history will eternally remember that Ken was the first Minister to face a censure vote.

“When the chips are down, NPP MPs chicken out. Exceedingly proud that NDC MPs chose to align with suffering Ghanaians not the disastrous & destructive Ken Ofori-Atta. No matter the outcome, history will eternally remember that Ken was the first Minister to face a censure vote,” Ablakwa said in a tweet.

The motion of censure filed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and seconded by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, seeking the removal of the Minister of Finance.