Majority washes hands off Ofori-Atta crucifixion

Just like the Biblical story where Pontius Pilate washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person”, Ghana’s Majority in Parliament replayed a similar drama on Thursday.

“Mr. Speaker, just like Pontius Pilate, we wash our hands, we would not be part of this”, Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah noted during his closing submissions of the debate of the report of the Censure Committee.

Even before Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu could complete his statement, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin was heard in the background saying “we wash our hands, we wash our hands”, then he got up, took a bottle of hand sanitizer and sprayed it on the opened palms of his colleague.

Afenyo-Markin also sanitized his hands and together with Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu they led the Majority Caucus made up of  Parliamentarians on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to walk out of the Chamber.

The walk-out meant the Majority Caucus has refused to be part of the censure vote to kick out Finance Minister; Ken Ofori-Atta after the matter was debated on the floor of Parliament for hours.

Despite mounting  spirited arguments to convince their colleagues on the Minority side on backing down on their entrenched position to have the Finance Minister removed, the members on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were adamant and insisted the man was not fit to remain in office.

Per the Standing Orders, the House required two-thirds of votes from all the 275 Members of Parliament to succeed the censure which is being championed by the minority.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin,  despite the walkout by the Majority, allowed the vote to be held in accordance with Standing Order 105 and Article 104(4) of the 1992 constitution.

After the votes were counted, 136 NDC MPs voted while there were neither abstentions nor ‘No’ votes.

Constitutionally, the proponents of the motion needed the votes of 183 legislators to have the motion passed against Mr. Ofori-Atta.

“The vote is accordingly lost,” Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin stated

It would be recalled that the Minority caucus filed the motion of censure against the Finance Minister, accusing him of mismanagement of the economy, financial recklessness, conflict of interest, gross mismanagement of the economy.

An 8-member ad-hoc committee was then set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to probe the motion brought against the Finance Minister presented its report to Parliament on November 25, 2022.

The matter was debated at the plenary on Thursday and when it was time for voting, the Majority staged a walk out rubbishing the allegations leveled against the Finance Minister.