The Majority Caucus in Parliament has acceded President Akufo-Addo’s plea to make Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, remain in office until IMF negotiations are over.
In a press release signed by the Majority leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the majority caucus took his decision after the President engaged the caucus yesterday, October, 26th, 2022.
“President engaged Members of the caucus and requested that the issue be stood down until the conclusion of the round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the presentation of the budget statement and economic policy in November, 2022.
“After deliberations among the majority caucus today, 26th October, 2022, it was agreed to accede the President’s appeal”
Kyei Mensa Bonsu, Majority Leader
On Tuesday, 25th October 2022, a section of the majority caucus in Parliament held a press conference demanding that President Akufo-Addo sacks Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu-Boahen.
Hon. Andy Appiah Kubi, MP for Asante Akyem North who identified himself as spokesperson for the disgruntled NPP MPs, said they are making this call because, they together with their constituents, are “unhappy with the developments in the country.”
“We want the President to remove Ken Ofori and Chares Adu Boahen. We are by this medium communicating our strong desire that the President changes the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State in the Finance Ministry without further delay.”
Andy Appiah Kubi, MP
They threatened to boycott Parliamentary discussions on government business if the President fails to heed their call.
“We want to serve notice, and notice is hereby served that until such persons as aforementioned are made to resign or removed from office, we members of the Majority Caucus here in Parliament will not participate in any business of government by or for the President, by any other Minister. We hope that those of us in the back bench and members of the Majority caucus will abide by this prayer.”
Andy Appiah Kubi, MP
The Inside Story
Hon. Eugene Boakye Antwi, MP for Subin and a leading member of the NPP group in Parliament who are calling for Ofori-Atta’s dismissal has spoken with many media houses about the reason for their move and the steps they took ahead of the press conference on Tuesday, October 25th, 2022.
Speaking on PM Express, Hon. Boakye Antwi said one of the reasons they are asking for the Finance Minister’s removal is because of some utterances he made about the IMF.
The Finance Minister is on record to have said that, “we are not going to go to the the IMF. The consequences are dire, we are a proud nation, we have the resources, we have the capacity.”
According to the Subin Legislator, utterances like this from the Finance Minister is not making the IMF take Ghana seriously in our deliberations with the Bretton-Woods Institution and hence, it will be in the best interest of the Country if Ken Ofori-Atta steps down as Finance Minister and Ghana’s Leader in the IMF deliberations.
“This particular pronouncement I suspect is creating problems with the Finance leader leading our discussions with the IMF… It brings into sharp focus a huge credibility gap because you’ve already demonstrated to the World that you are not a fan of the IMF and the IMF can’t help us out of the quagmire in which we find ourselves. [But] in the same vain you are the one leading the discussions
This is where the President ought to do the right thing by asking his Finance Minister to step down. This is what politics is all about. If you make statements that is contrary to direction or situations around you, you just have to resign.”
Eugene Boakye Antwi, MP
He added that, the press conference on Tuesday, October 25th, 2022, was only held because President Akufo-Addo dismissed initial petitions sent to him through their Party leadership.
Hon. Boakye Antwi said that, on Sunday, October 23rd, 2022, about forty (40) MPs from the majority caucus met the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu and asked him to convey their “worries and concerns to the President because, [they] didn’t want a situation whereby they will surprise him the Majority Leader or embarrass the President.”
According to Hon. Boakye Antwi, the Majority Leader didn’t come back with any positive feedback.
And so on Monday afternoon, they asked the National Chairman and General Secretary of the NPP to go back to the President and re-echo their concerns to him after which they will take a decision on Tuesday.
“This morning there was still a stalemate and as Members of Parliament, in any democracy, is the Legislative that is supreme… so if we are telling you the President that this is what is happening so we felt that, if the President does not want listen to us, then the only way to let our constituents understand that we’ve articulated their concerns is to boycott Parliament and not participate in any government business. .. so to express our frustration against the President’s decision, we’ll just not go to Parliament to help the government transact his business.”
Eugene Boakye Antwi, MP
Meanwhile, the Majority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensa Bonsu has said that, he wasn’t aware of the press conference and that he was shocked by the move of the MPs on Tuesday.
Speaking on an Accra-based FM station, he mentioned that, his colleagues who held the press conference had informed him about the need to remove the Finance Minister because of the economic situations in the Country.
He however pleaded with them to hold on with any action to remove Ofori-Atta because of the ongoing IMF negotiations. The Majority Leader said his colleagues didn’t agree and so, he decided to take their petition to the President.
He added that, on Monday, October 24th 2022, the Minority Leader also informed him about a move by the minority caucus to pass a vote of no confidence in Ofori-Atta and so he informed the President about the concerns of the majority and the intended action of the minority on Monday.
According to Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the President had decided to meet the majority group on Wednesday, October 26th, 2022.
Unknown to him, the MPs had gone to inform the national leadership of the party, the NPP, on their plan to hold a press conference on Tuesday.
According to him, the party leadership told them they will meet the President to inform him about the intention of the MPs to hold the press conference. Something the Party Leaders didn’t do on time because, the Party Leaders decided to convince the disgruntled MPs not to go on with the press conference on a personal level.
Kyei Mensah Bonsu said, he only got to know that the MPs had held the press conference when he called upon them to come so they discuss the issues at hand.
The MPs told him they knew he’ll convince them not to hold the press conference and so they held the press briefing even before he could invite them for a discussion.
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