‘Lame-duck’ Ofori-Atta’s approval guarantees NDC victory in 2024 – Asiedu Nketia

Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the opposition NDC is optimistic that the approval of Ken Ofori-Atta as the Finance Minister will guarantee victory for the NDC in the 2024 general elections.

Speaking on Citi TV on Wednesday as monitored by GhanaWeb, Asiedu Nketia described the performance of Ken Ofori-Atta at the Finance Ministry in the first term of President Akufo-Addo as abysmal.

The NDC Chief Scribe noted that it was strategic that the party reached a consensus with the Majority to approve Ofori-Atta because the party would like to return to power in 2024, and thus it will be very simple for the NDC.

Asiedu Nketia explained, “The party even held several meetings and concluded that we shouldn’t split hairs about Ofori-Atta’s approval. We believe that he is a lame-duck minister at this stage. So, if the government wants a lame-duck minister, they should have him...that was the party’s position that was communicated.”

“In this particular case, even after the decision had been taken, I could see that a lot of our MPs found it very difficult to contribute. They didn’t want to be associated with any process to approve Ofori-Atta,” he added.

The approval of Ken Ofori-Atta as Minister for Finance has seen some members of the NDC chastising their representatives on the Appointments Committee for not being thorough and critical of the nominee.

Isaac Adongo, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament broke ranks with the Minority caucus of the House over the approval of Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister.

Adongo said: “I have stayed out of the media because of the question of why we approved Ken Ofori-Atta. I don’t want my name to be dragged in the mud when I do not have control over the processes leading to the approval.”

After two days of vetting, Ken Ofori-Atta was approved by consensus following positive recommendations by the Appointments Committee.