Assembling people to praise Ofori-Atta will not change our mind about 2024 budget – Kwesi Pratt fumes

The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has taken a swipe at the Ministry of Finance over what he describes as a useless assembling of civil servants to meet the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, after he returned to the office after presenting the 2024 budget to parliament.

According to the veteran journalist, the minister should not be deceived that the gathering of people from his office to sing his praises translates into the budget being accepted or that it is improving the lives of Ghanaians.

This comes after a video emerged on social media of some civil servants who are believed to be workers of the ministry, gathered at the entrance of the Ministry of Finance to welcome Ken Ofori-Atta back to the office after he presented that 2024 budget, on November 15, 2023.

In the video, the civil servants were heard hailing and singing songs of praises as the minister arrived at the ministry.

When the finance minister got down from the vehicle, he joined the workers as they sang and danced to the Ye De Nkunim song by Tagoe Sisters.

The Ministry of Finance, its minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and those captured in the video have since received public backlash, with many describing their actions as needless.

Making an appearance on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, Kwesi Pratt Jnr noted that parading civil servants to sing the praise of the finance minister does not translate into the lives of Ghanaians being better.

“To be honest what I find very distasteful is that some people believe that this childish demonstration in front of the Ministry of Finance will convince the people of Ghana that their lives are better today that it was before.

“How does everybody think so low of the Ghanaian people? How does anybody think that we are so gullible that if you brought 40 people to come and stand in front of the Ministry of Finance and sing the praises of the minister, the budget will be accepted. Ghanaians are not that gullible,” he stated.

According to the veteran journalist, Ghanaians are in the position to judge the efficacy or otherwise of the budget and it does not require a public display by the workers at the ministry.

“Ghanaians know what is good for them, they can assess their own standards of living and they know whether this budget is good or bad and it doesn’t take this useless demonstration to convince anybody.

“Whoever put this together must have a very low opinion of the Ghanaian people. Such a person thinks that we the people of Ghana have no brains in our head,” he stated.

Kwesi Pratt further argued that the actions of the workers were in violation of the codes of conduct that is to guide civil and public servants.

“Here are people who are acting illegally and in violation of the civil servant’s code, and violating the code of conduct of public officers. The minister cannot claim that he just walked in and the people were jubilating and out of courtesy, he joined them. What kind of minister is that,” he questioned?

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