I’m surprised Ofori-Atta is still at post - Lecturer

Governance lecturer, Dr Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah of the Central University College in the Greater Accra Region is worried the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is still in post.

According to the governance lecturer, the continuous stay in office of the minister has not been beneficial to the state.

"I’m deeply surprised the minister is still in office in the wake of the mess he had caused to the economy," he said.

"The minister should have resigned by now. Everybody is calling him out because of the way the economy has been mismanaged," he stressed.

He said under the watch of the finance minister, capitation grants to schools are in arrears and the feeding of students in the various secondary schools as part of the implementation of the government’s flagship, the Free Secondary School programme, is problematic.

The lecturer spoke on Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-day news on Friday, March 31, 2023.

He said funds for the smooth running of the Free SHS programme have come to a standstill because the Minister is averse to counsel.

"People, including experts, are telling the minister to cut down on expenditure [but] still he (the minister) went on by providing free textbooks, free uniforms among others to the beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School programme," he noted.

"We are not in normal times hence the need for some prudent management of the economy but this is missing on the part of the minister," he said.

He added that all manner of taxes have been collected under the administration of the minister yet Common Fund payment is in arrears.

"Is it a situation that if the finance minister resigns, Ghana as a nation we will collapse?" he wondered. "Everybody is saying enough of the minister’s duties yet the minister relishes his stay in office."

He said the finance minister’s own Members of Parliament have had the course to complain about his economic management prowess yet the man is still in post.