Hear out Ofori-Atta before his sack – Afenyo-Markin tells Parliament

The Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, on Tuesday, argued on the Plenary that the embattled Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has a constitutional right to be given a fair and proper hearing in response to allegations leveled against him as the legal grounds for a censure-motion filed by the Minority to get him out of office.

“Mr. Speaker my point is that if you look critically at the motion, it contains some ex-cathedra matters. These ex-cathedra matters cannot be seen to be matters grounded in facts and upon a careful perusal of the Constitution, there is a provision under Article 82 which requires the Minister to be heard in his defence.

“Mr. Speaker my issue is that if the Finance Minister elects to bring a counsel to respond on his behalf which is his constitutional bona-fide, what do we do?”, Afenyo-Markin noted on the Floor Tuesday afternoon.

He explained his exact position further: “Mr. Speaker I would not sit down when constitutional bona-fides are being crucified. I would not sit down. It is my duty as a member of this House and as   an officer of the courts, knowing that even today, in a cardinal trial, there are discoveries where documents are exchanged even before court hearing starts.

“I am not against their motion and it should not be misconstrued. It is your right to bring an application. I am not against it but I am interested in the procedure. Let us not do things for political expediency. One day it would come and hurt us”, Afenyo-Markin added.

Last week, the Minority filed a motion of vote of censure against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in which the group alleged he had been involved in fiscal recklessness and a conflict of interest situation which have combined to land Ghana’s economy in a crisis.

But the Deputy Majority Leader, Afenyo-Markin, on Tuesday insisted that the procedure through which the motion of censure was filed was flawed by law.

His submission among others, stated:

“Mr. Speaker, it is his right to be heard and I am drawing our attention to it so that on the day we do not meet a cul-de-sac. Under our own Constitution, we allow the potential contemnor to be represented by counsel and we have precedence. Because he is entitled to be heard. You cannot take his right to fair hearing.

“As a House we should look at all the road blocks and properly address them before the day comes.

“Here we are; we have mounted a serious issue as censure and the applicant has not served him. Neither have they provided the bases upon which they mounted their application, except to advertise some ex-cathedra matters.

So all I am saying is that, I do not think that we should allow this to remain in our Order Paper and the 14 days come, it becomes ripe for hearing and then on that day, people are holding their documents arguing and we want the Minister to respond?

“I believe that even as Members, one; we should have copies of all the legal grounds upon which the application is mounted. Two, the respondent himself must be served. Three, should the respondent elect to say he wants to have a counsel to represent him are we going to allow that counsel into the dispatch box? Because the counsel would come in as a stranger at the Plenary or we are going to have a closed session to hear the counsel?

“These are critical matters we should look at so that we do not create a certain impression that censure as provided for in the Constitution is a trivial matter. It is not”, Afenyo-Markin noted.

Minority Leader

In response to the submission of the Deputy Majority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said “The Speaker has ruled, and we must show respect to the Speaker. If there are any disagreements with the ruling, they know what to do.

“Ordinarily, any civilized democracy in the world, you don’t even need a motion for the Minister of Finance to go home.

“He, upon self-appraisal of where he has led the country and economy to, in all conscience, will bow out and save the nation. So, we have brought a competent motion.”

The Minority Leader teased the Deputy Majority Leader as someone who has to choose between two difficult options.

Haruna Iddrisu said though Afenyo-Markin knew Ken Ofori-Atta has failed as Finance Minister, he is unable to side with the censure motion.

The Minority Leader appealed to like-minded members of the Majority Group to support the motion of censure and get out Ken Ofori-Atta.

Ruling

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, who sat-in as Speaker on Tuesday, ruled that the earlier ruling on the matter  by the substantive Speaker,  Alban Bagbin be maintained.

“The issue of censure motion has already been discussed. These issues were raised, and the Speaker ruled that, the motion was appropriate, so I think that we will patiently wait as the motion matures,” Andrew Asiamah Amoako noted.

Revolt

Apart from the motion of censure filed by the Minority, some Members of Parliament on the ticket of the ruling party, last week warned, 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.

The President, Akufo-Addo has appealed to the NPP MPs to exercise restraint and allow the Finance Minister conclude the ongoing IMF negotiations and also get the national budget ready before a decision is taken on him.