Yesterday, some MPs belonging to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by Lawyer Andy Appiah Kubi, MP for Asante Akim North publicly denounced Ken Ofori Atta as Finance Minister.
The group, numbering about 80, expect the President to call for the resignation of the Finance Minister, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Charles Adu Boahen or summarily dismiss them.
Until such a time when the President takes either of these two decisions, the MPs are vowing to boycott the government’s business in Parliament and all activities that would lead up to the reading of the 2023 Budget Statement and Finance Policy.
Speaking to the issues on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, Wednesday, October 26, 2022, Development Economist, Dr. Michael Adongo believes that the public outburst of the MPs suggest that privately, the President has refused to listen and act on the pleas of the MPs.
“One thing we need to understand is that by the time MPs openly defy the President, it means that a lot has been going on for a long time behind the scenes. It means that they have tried as much as possible to tell the President that this is unacceptable. If you speak to people [within the government] privately, they will tell you that, if you speak to him, [the Finance Minister], he will call your bluff. That is not what a Finance Minister should be doing.”
Dr. Adongo disagreed with the Leader of Majority group in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu’s position that a change in Finance Minister could affect the government’s deal with the IMF.
“I think that there is enough experience. There is enough knowledge and even enough history within the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana to get that thing going. We need a fresh team that would work with the IMF on policies that would work in Ghana. Yes there would be a learning curve but I do not think that that learning curve is so steep that any minister we appoint cannot get over this in one week,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Adongo believes that the decision of the NPP MPs while late, is admirable.
“It has arrived at a time when so much damage has been done. The repair of that damage is going to take us very long but it is still better late than never. The issue here doesn’t have to do with whether Ken Ofori Atta understands economics or not. It is just a matter of principle and morality. When you fail to achieve the things you set out to do, you bring new faces to bring confidence back into the system. I have been calling for this because he has been badly stained in the banking sector cleanup and then also, his close association with the President.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
