Minority engages in ‘strategic’ meeting ahead of vote of censure on Ofori-Atta

All is set in parliament for the house to vote on a censure motion tabled against the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The house is yet to officially commence sitting for the day however the minority side which filed the motion seeking to remove the minister from office have filled their side of the chamber.

The majority side on the other hand have a handful of their members in the chamber while others have been seen within the precents of the house.

Ahead of the commencement of sitting, members of the minority group have been captured in a meeting which took place on the floor of the chamber.

The minority members briefly stopped their chit-chat as they gathered around their leader, Haruna Iddrisu.

The minority leader in the brief meeting was seen ostensibly outlining the caucus’ strategy to the members who listened with rapt attention.

Meanwhile, the majority group in an earlier press conference have hinted of their plans to boycott the voting process.

According to the majority, even though they support the call for the minister’s resignation, the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta should be on their terms.

"We are here to reiterate that, however much you heard us speaking that based on the intervention of the president, we will have to see the minister of finance do his work, read budget, see through appropriation and then the president will act.

"Over the days, we have heard the finance minister speaking and his speaking has influenced majority of us in the caucus, not only to state that we are back to the original position that we took, and that position is that the minister of finance must not be the one to read the budget, and must not be the one that would do the appropriation.

"We are here to tell you this morning that this will be very soon for you to see, the position of us and we are going to be positively defiant about that posture until that action is taken. However, we are not going to support the cause of the NDC in the chamber this morning.

"The cause of the NDC is premised on falsehood, propaganda and reasons that are not justifiable. Their position might look like ours but is not the same."

This comes following a decision by some 80 MPs to call for the sacking of the Finance Minister.

The group of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament petitioned president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during a presser on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, to sack the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Minister of State at the finance ministry, Adu Boahen, to restore public confidence in the economy."

The group said it will not do business with government nor support the 2023 Budget if the president fails to heed their calls.

According to them, the move follows previous concerns sent to the government that have not yielded any positive results.



Akufo-Addo's meeting with NPP MPs and Vote of censure:

A meeting with the president following the demands by the NPP MPs meant that they had to stand down their request on two conditions.

The conditions included that Ofori-Atta is allowed to conclude the current phase of financial support negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and also to present the 2023 budget and see to the passage of the appropriation bill before their removal request will be acted upon.

It was on the same day that the Minority Caucus filed a censure. Their leader, Haruna Iddrisu assured the House days ago that the Minority Caucus he leads in Parliament will fully pursue a censure vote initiated against Ofori-Atta.

Speaking on the floor of the House on Tuesday, November 1, 2022; Haruna reiterated having issued a nine-line whip for members of his caucus when the day of voting comes, affirming that he will move the motion before November 10.

Haruna Iddrisu, after confirming that the motion will be filed also called on MPs in the Majority to join them to remove Ofori-Atta.

“I will move the motion for the censure of the Minister for Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta. Those like-minded persons who will dance with us, Mr. Speaker, they will be welcomed in the secret ballots,” Haruna stressed.

Voting today:

Parliament will require a vote with 2/3rd of MPs to decide the fate of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

With the current stance of the group from the Majority Caucus, it remains unclear what the outcome of this vote of censure will be.

GA/WA