Dominic Anarigide, an Economist and Deputy NDC Constituency Secretary for Navrongo in the Upper East Region is insistent that there to be a semblance of calm and a restoration of confidence, the current Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, must resign or be fired.
Mr. Anarigide backed the 7 grounds as espoused by the Minority Group in Parliament in furtherance of their censure motion against Mr. Ofori Atta. He spoke to A1 Radio.
“The reasons are very cogent and reasonable. For instance, if in the budget, something has not been approved and you dole money for that expenditure, what does that mean? I am making reference to the National Cathedral. Our laws say that before any spending can be done from the Consolidated Fund, approval must be sought from Parliament. That wasn’t done and then you go ahead to dole out money for same to be spent. What are you doing? It is not family money. This is the country’s money. I support that ground.”
For Mr Anarigide, the treatment of energy sector debts below the line is a clear case of misreporting stressing that, “the thing is that you want to hide something but you are the one spending on it.”
“We are talking about the deficit. If you look at the money we used to clean the banking sector, whether we borrowed the money or it was from our funds? Who is paying for it now? Is it not the Ghanaian tax payer? Whatever you use to pay the energy sector debts, who is bearing the costs? Is it not the Ghanaian taxpayers?” he quizzed.
Below are the 7 grounds why the Minority want the Finance Minister axed.
- 1. 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.
- 2. 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.
- 3. Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 constitution.
- 4. Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to parliament.
- 5. Fiscal recklessness, leading to the crash of the Ghana cedi, which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world.
- 6. Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis.
- 7. Gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, which has occasioned untoward and unprecedented hardship.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
