Get KEN out …as 80 NPP MPs to boycott budget if not sacked

President Akufo-Addo may have to choose between sacking his cousin, Ken Ofori-Atta, as Finance Minister and watching his own Government crash.

Never before in Ghana’s political history has Members of Parliament on the ticket of the ruling party, teamed up to warn, through a press conference,  that they would boycott all Government business, including the National Budget,  on the Plenary,  if the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is not sacked as a matter of urgency.

The aggrieved MPs, all on the ticket of the incumbent New Patriotic party (NPP), said they were 80 in number and the planned boycott would be unanimous although just about 20 of them were at the press briefing on Tuesday.

They also called for the removal of the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.

In a hung Parliament of 137-137 plus an independent Member who has opted to be with the NPP side to form a Majority Group of 138, the warning from the NPP MPs, that they would boycott Government business on the Floor would mean the Government would either come to a standstill, or the Minority from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) would be dictating and deciding from Parliament which Government business related motion should be passed and which ones should be rejected.

Minority Want Him Out

As if to add salt to injury, the Minority Group, on the same Tuesday, successfully filed a motion for the immediate removal from office of the same Ken Ofori-Atta.

Minority Chief Whip who doubles as Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak filed the motion dated October 24, 2022.

The Minority stated seven reasons behind their decision to file the motion including the despicable conflict of Interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang and the unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral:

The other stated reasons are the Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution and the deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament as well as the fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world.

The Minority group also mentioned the alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis and the gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy which as occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.

AFAG WANTS HIM OUT

Barely 24 hours before the calls from both the Majority and Minority sides for the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta, had the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) also called on President Akufo-Addo to reassign him and Charles Adu Boahen, if the two cannot be sacked.

AFAG said the two ministers have failed to curb the continuous depreciation of the Cedi.

In a press statement issued on Monday, they asked President Akufo-Addo to reassign the two immediately to salvage the situation.

“The Minister of Finance and the Minister of State at the Ministry, Ken Ofori Atta and Charles Adu Boahen must be reassigned,” AFAG demanded.

“His posture does not augur well. He has lost the trust of the nation. The name Ken Ofori-Atta has become synonymous with failure, synonymous with incompetence and any adjective you can call,” General Secretary of AFAG Arnold Boateng noted and said it is clear that the Finance Ministry and the Government has “dropped the ball on the economy.”

AKUFO-ADDO SAYS NO

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo, in recent times, has been consistent in his public utterances that he does not see any reason to sack Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister.

According to Akufo-Addo, Ken Ofori-Atta has discharged his duties “excellently” and he cannot relieve such a person of his position.

“I came to office in 2017 under a stringent IMF programme. This same man was able to manage the affairs of our economy in such a way that in my first term, we were one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

“An average growth rate of 7% which allowed us to initiate programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs. So somebody who has been able to do that. The current difficulties are not his fault. So how do I do it (sack him)? What will be the basis? What will be the rationale”, Akufo-Addo stated on Otec FM recently.