Minority leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has decried the management of Ghana’s economy, indicating that the incompetence of finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in mismanaging the economy has reached legendary status.

According to him, it is necessary for government to do due diligence in ensuring the development of the country. He explained that government must necessarily make changes to some of its policies to guarantee the survival of Ghanaians in the country.

“We reiterate our call for the dismissal of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta whose gross incompetence in managing our economy has assumed legendary status. The President must spare Ghanaians the agony of waking up tomorrow to see Ken Ofori-Atta still in charge of the economy.”
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, February 20, 2023, Dr Ato Forson stated that his caucus will protect the suffering Ghanaian. He noted that Ghanaians should be rest assured that their interests will be respected at all times.

“Ghanaians had hope that the seriousness of the economic crisis would have prompted a reduction in the size of government and that President Akufo-Addo will see the wisdom in getting rid of the deadwood in his government who have nothing to offer this country. In the circumstances, while the insensitive government is refusing to act responsibly, to contend with the looming economic disaster, we in the Minority will fully discharge our duties to the people of Ghana.”
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson

Consensus vote of appointees

Dr Forson recounted that a couple of weeks ago, the President announced a new set of ministerial nominees, and the vetting commenced this morning. To this end, he noted that the minority is pushing for a secret balloting for the approval of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s new ministerial nominees.

Dr Forson emphasized that the minority will not subscribe to a consensus voting of new ministers after they had been vetted by the Appointments Committee.

“The Minority will not subscribe to a consensus vote at the level of the Appointments Committee. We will ensure that the matter is brought before the full House for a vote to be taken in secret. In line with this, we are taking part in the vetting process so that at the very minimum, we can scrutinize the President’s decision in bringing up these nominees.”
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson

Furthermore, the Minority Leader called for the immediate reduction in the number of ministers from 86 to 65. To this end, he iterated calls for the President to reduce his government size and merge some ministries.

For instance, the Minority Caucus wants the Ministry of Food and Agriculture merged with the Fisheries Ministry and the Chieftaincy Ministry merged with the Tourism Ministry. The Minority is also calling for the Sanitation and the Local Government Ministry to be merged to help reduce the size of the government.

Dr Forson further noted that the Information and Communication ministries must be merged, likewise the Transport and Railways ministries.

Meanwhile, the deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has described as political immaturity, the position of the Minority not to approve any of the Ministerial nominees scheduled to be vetted by the Appointments Committee today, Monday. He stated that he was disappointed with the conduct of the minority.

“I’m disappointed in the NDC and if they really want to portray themselves as a party ready to take the reigns of government, then they should behave well. What they are doing is way below belt and they are not demonstrating political maturity.”
Alexander Afenyo-Markin