Ken Ofori-Atta is a strong man, I like his composure - Prof. Joseph Osafo

Head of Psychology at the University of Ghana, Professor Joseph Osafo has hailed the Minister of Finance for his composure at the face of opposition.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is currently facing a vote of censure by the Minority in Parliament as they have leveled series of allegations against him and are calling for his removal.

The Majority in Parliament are also in sync with the call for the removal of the Minister and petitioned the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who in response has appealed to them to allow him conclude Ghana's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before a decision is made on their request.

However, the Minister, on Friday, November 18, 2022, appeared before an ad-hoc parliamentary Committee probing the censure motion against him and was beseiged with a barrage of questions bordering on conflict of interest and abuse of office.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta provided justifications for the things he has been accused of, particularly with accusation that he has taken monies from the Consolidated Fund to finance the construction of the National Cathedral.

Answering questions on the constitutionality or otherwise of financial withdrawals for the National Cathedral, the Minister distinguished how he took monies towards the Cathedral saying "the question here seems to suggest that there was unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund. So, I went on to define the two different ones in which one might make a mistake and made it very clear that [a] we did not go through the Contingency Fund and that we went through the Contingency Vault...It was important that we made that distinction".

"I get quite nervous about the level of passion on the construction of the Cathedral. We certainly did receive parliamentary approval for whatever we do with our Contingency Vault and that is what I went through to do that", he stated amidst other clarifications.

Tackling the matter during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Prof. Joseph Osafo was amazed at the mental strength that the Finance Minister has exhibited despite the incessant calls for him to resign or be dismissed plus the Minority's censure motion to validate his removal.

Speaking to host Nana Yaw Kesseh, he described the Minister as a "strong man".

"I see him to be very strong. He is a strong man...one thing he has that delights me is that he is a man of composure."

Nonetheless, Prof. Osafo advised Mr. Ofori-Atta to resign in the interest of Ghana and his political party, New Patriotic Party stating "it would show statesmanship".