How NDC MPs ‘mourned’ Ghana’s economic crisis

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Caucus in Parliament Tuesday wore black and red attires during sitting to signify their “mourning of Ghana’s ongoing economic crisis.” Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, at a press conference in the House, said they were all in black and red attires because they were mourning the democracy of Ghana, as well as the state of the Ghanaian economy. “Our economy is in such a bad shape, if care is not taken, we will crash this economy to a point of no return. And that is why we have decided to mourn it and to send a strong signal to the Government that we will not chicken out,” he said. “The economy is our livelihood, we will stand firm for the people of Ghana, because they deserve it. We think the people of Ghana have done no wrong to deserve this kind of treatment and mismanagement, coupled with ineptitude.” Dr Forson reiterated the Minority Caucus’ call for the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, to be relieved of his post. He said they had filed a motion on the floor of Parliament for his impeachment. Dr Forson, who outlined the seven reasons why the Minority was calling for the removal of the Finance Minister alleged a conflict of interest, claiming the Minister was “directly benefiting from Ghana’s economic woes with his companies taking undue advantage of the system, particularly, from Ghana’s debt overhaul”. Secondly, he alleged that there were withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution and the Petroleum Management Act for the construction of the National Cathedral. Dr Forson alleged there were illegal payments of oil revenues into offshore accounts in violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act, as well as the Petroleum Revenue Act (Act 815). “The fourth is misreporting of figures to Parliament, where he decided to account for expenditure as amortization and setting expenditure as foot note in the financial reporting standard, contrary to global financial reporting standards,” he said. He said “fiscal recklessness” was obviously leading to the crash of the Ghanaian cedi making it one of the worst performing currencies. Dr Forson criticised the managers of the economy, saying their “incompetence” and “gross mismanagement” of the economy had brought untold hardships on Ghanaians. “Colleague, we can’t do this alone, we need the majority to support us to do this. We need to assist the President to make sure that this happens.” He suggested that new leaders be appointed to head the Economic Management Team and the Bank of Ghana to offer alternative solutions.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Caucus in Parliament Tuesday wore black and red attires during sitting to signify their “mourning of Ghana’s ongoing economic crisis.” Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, at a press conference in the House, said they were all in black and red attires because they were mourning the democracy of Ghana, as well as the state of the Ghanaian economy. “Our economy is in such a bad shape, if care is not taken, we will crash this economy to a point of no return. And that is why we have decided to mourn it and to send a strong signal to the Government that we will not chicken out,” he said. “The economy is our livelihood, we will stand firm for the people of Ghana, because they deserve it. We think the people of Ghana have done no wrong to deserve this kind of treatment and mismanagement, coupled with ineptitude.” Dr Forson reiterated the Minority Caucus’ call for the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, to be relieved of his post. He said they had filed a motion on the floor of Parliament for his impeachment. Dr Forson, who outlined the seven reasons why the Minority was calling for the removal of the Finance Minister alleged a conflict of interest, claiming the Minister was “directly benefiting from Ghana’s economic woes with his companies taking undue advantage of the system, particularly, from Ghana’s debt overhaul”. Secondly, he alleged that there were withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution and the Petroleum Management Act for the construction of the National Cathedral. Dr Forson alleged there were illegal payments of oil revenues into offshore accounts in violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act, as well as the Petroleum Revenue Act (Act 815). “The fourth is misreporting of figures to Parliament, where he decided to account for expenditure as amortization and setting expenditure as foot note in the financial reporting standard, contrary to global financial reporting standards,” he said. He said “fiscal recklessness” was obviously leading to the crash of the Ghanaian cedi making it one of the worst performing currencies. Dr Forson criticised the managers of the economy, saying their “incompetence” and “gross mismanagement” of the economy had brought untold hardships on Ghanaians. “Colleague, we can’t do this alone, we need the majority to support us to do this. We need to assist the President to make sure that this happens.” He suggested that new leaders be appointed to head the Economic Management Team and the Bank of Ghana to offer alternative solutions.