Dr. Amoako Baah, a senior member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has chastised the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, for his handling of the call for the resignation of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta by some members of his caucus.
According to Dr. Baah, because the NPP MPs calling for Ofori-Atta's removal form the Majority of the party's parliamentary caucus, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu should be the one leading the charge.
Dr. Baah, a retired political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNSUT), added that the majority leader cannot stand in the middle and just inform President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the demands of his members.
"...I have been saying that Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is not performing his duties as majority leader well. If you are a majority leader and your members are agitating about an issue, you must first engage them, and if what they are saying is true, you have to join them.
"So that if you lead them to the president, you will be there as part of them, not just their speaker or messenger. That is why you're called the majority leader and not the majority messenger.
"You go to the president and you tell him that they said they don't agree with you. Is this what you are supposed to do? Why are you their leader? Can't they (the MPs) speak for themselves?" he said.
Dr. Baah also claimed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo lost it when the majority leader informed him of some NPP MPs' demand that Ofori-Atta be relieved of his duties, questioning whether they were aware of the role Data Bank, the finance minister's bank, played in financing his presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, the number of NPP MPs calling for the sacking of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has increased to 98 from the initial 80.
The 80 MPs had earlier made calls for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State for Finance, Charles Adu Boahen.
The MPs later backed down following a meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who asked that the minister be given time to conclude Ghana's ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as well as the presentation of the 2023 budget in parliament.
However, in an interview with Joy News, the 80 MPs' spokesperson, Andy Appiah-Kubi, stated that the group is returning to their original demand for the finance minister's removal.
According to the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, their renewed demand, with the support of 18 other members of their caucus, is because the minister's position is now untenable.
He added that the anti-Ofori-Atta MPs will boycott the budget presentation if he is allowed to come to parliament to present the budget.
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