Akufo-Addo Did Not Promise To Sack Ofori-Atta – Kyei-Mensah

Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Suame MP and Majority Leader, has explained portions of a statement he signed, in which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pleaded with some Majority MPs to allow Ken Ofori-Atta conclude Ghana’s negotiations with the IMF and present the 2023 budget. The appeal came after the majority MPs organised a press conference to demand the finance minister’s removal from office.

According to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, the president when he met the Majority MPs did not categorically say he will dismiss Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, after the IMF negotiations and 2023 Budget reading and appropriation.

He explained in a Joy News interview monitored by GhanaWeb that, “the President did not say that. To quote his words, he said ‘let’s finish with this, the IMF and the budget thereafter, we should hold on until after these’.”

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu continued that the president’s statement could result in an ‘either or’ decision.

“It could be. I mean, either of them is subject to interpretations that ‘okay hold on after the events then we come back and discuss,’ or ‘hold on after the event I will act.’

“’I will act’ may not necessarily mean that ‘I will do that’. According to what the President told us, you hold on until…so it could be that ‘I’ll come back to consider it’ or ‘I’ll give in to your demands’.

“The plea was – hold on until after these events, the IMF discussions and the budget. In fact, I even added when there appeared to be some unclarity about what happens after the presentation of the budget, I said no if the budget is presented by a person, you’d require that same person to shepherd the appropriations.

“And that is how come for the avoidance of doubt I said let us include the appropriation so that there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that after the budget has been read then agitations will start again,” Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted.

About 95 NPP MPs demanded the immediate dismissal of the Finance Minister.

The MPs at a press conference stated that the continuous stay of Ken Ofori-Atta in office was delaying the IMF bailout the country is seeking due to the fact that the Minister has lost all credibility.

They demanded the President to either remove him or face a boycott of his business in Parliament.

The President, however, appealed to them for more time for the embattled Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to conclude negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before any talks of resignation.