Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, former chairman of the Finance Committee Of Parliament, has disclosed that it will be suicidal to remove the Minister of Finance, Hon Ken Ofori-Atta, from office at this ‘crucial hour’.
According to him, this is not the time to call for Ken’s removal. He lamented that even if a new minister is nominated at this juncture, it will be difficult to vet and swear him or her into office. ‘‘That person is likely to be sworn into office in 2023 and the deputy ministers can also not perform the role of the substansive minister,” he emphasized.
Speaking in an interview today November 21, Dr Assibey Yeboah noted that time is of essence since the rules surrounding the budget is clear and it ought to be sent to Parliament on or before Novemeber 15, every year.
”This is not the time for that because already, one week has passed as of November 21. And ideally, about six weeks is needed to do a thorough job on the budget. To what end ,what will it profit us if he is removed?”
Dr Assibey Yeboah
Dr Assibey further disclosed that the minister will be needed at the committee level to defend the budget and therefore there is no need to create a vacuum. He further expained that when it comes to the budget reading, it is possible anybody at all can read it provided the person was a Minister of State. But the lump of the thorough work demands that Ken and his team, lead-debate approval of estimates and passage of Appropriations Bill.
The Former Chairman of the Finance Committe stated that if the budget estimates and the Appropriation Bill is not done by December 22, 2022, it will affect the entire country. ”As to whether the Finance should be sacked or not, I leave it to Akuffo Addo,” he added.
”Mr Ofori Atta should be supported to carry this through so that when we enter the coming year and the President decides to sack him, it will not bring any trouble to the country.”
DrvAssibey Yeboah
Dr Yeboah appealed to the Members of the Majority Caucus demanding Ken’s removal who have disclosed their readiness not to support the 2023 Budget hearing, debate and approval to reconsider their stance.
Ken Must Not Present 2023 Budget
Meanwhile, Mr Andy Appiah Kubi, Member of Parliament for the people of Asante-Akim North reiterated the stance of the Members of the Majority caucas who are demanding the resignition or dismissal of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to the Mr Kubi who is the spokesperson for the group disclosed that per their consultation, the majority of constituents and the New Patroitic Party (NPP) were in agreement that, the Finance Minister Should be removed from office. He noted that the members disagreed with suggestion that it is only the President’s cousin Who can present the budget.
“We have lost confidence in him because in the 2022 Budget, he promised that with an E-levy and Property Rate, there will be no need to go to the IMF for support. As we speak now, that has not happened, and the property rate is even yet to take off.
We are not convinced that it should be Ken Ofori-Atta and nobody else,” Mr Appiah-Kubi added and insisted it is their “political decision” that Mr Ofori-Atta must go for “the collective interest” of the NPP.
Mr Appiah-Kubi reiterated that his group still stand by the position that the vote of censure being led by the Minority side would not yield any results since after that move, they will still need to appeal to the President to remove him. He said their reason is not “that of mismanagement of the economy”, rather public confidence in him has gone down for him to lead as Finance Minister.
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