Mr Benjamin Boakye, the Executive Director for Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has joined the several calls for the Finance Minister, Hon Ken Ofori-Atta, to resign or be dismissed.
This comes after the Finance Minister appeared before the 8-member Ad hoc Committee of Parliament, hearing a motion of censure against him by the Minority to defend himself.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Benjamin Boakye stated that; being a minister is not a constitutional right, therefore if people are calling for the resignation of the Finance Minister, he should go.
According to the Executive Director, there is no need for Mr Ofori-Atta to defend himself.
“This is an unnecessary addition to what we need to do at this point in terms of what we need to do to recover.
“When you have 85% of the people’s representative saying that they have lost confidence in you, they do not want you, I do not think that anybody has the right to be a minister , there is no constitutional right to be a minister for which anybody can defend.”
Benjamin Boakye
Mr Benjamin Boakye further emphasized that Hon Ken Ofori Atta must resign or be sacked, due to his inability to help salvage the current economic crisis facing Ghanaians. He added that the delay in sacking the Finance Minister is worsening the country’s fiscal challenges.
“We are taking too long if we consider the kind of difficulties. We need to clear the air for confidence in the market and to people who want to deal with Ghana for us to come out of this difficulty, and I think this is an unnecessary addition to what we need to do to recover.”
Mr Benjamin Boakye
NPP MPs Rejection of Ofori-Atta Is Enough
Benjamin Boakye stated that the demand by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to be dismissed is enough, even if they do not participate in the vote of censure for the Minister to leave office.
The Executive Director noted that although the Majority MPs may not participate in the vote of censure, it is clear they want the Minister dismissed based on their recent demand.
“If it goes through a vote, the Majority may not participate in that vote, but clearly I mean everybody knows that they have voted. They have been out there telling us that they do not want him to even present the budget. They have told the whole world that they have lost confidence in him.”
Mr Benjamin Boakye
He opined that Ken Ofori-Atta should respect the democratic principles and resign as majority of his party members do not want him in office.
The Ad hoc Committee was tasked by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to within seven days, consider the Minority’s censure motion against Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Committee has begun its hearing with the Finance Minister and some Minority members testifying before the Committee.
Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta while testifying before the Committee on Friday November 18, apologised to the citizens for the present economic hardships in the country.
The Committee is expected to finalise its hearing and present its report to the House next week.
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