General News of Thursday, 15 December 2022

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Are you using Ghana as an experiment? - Subin MP asks Ofori-Atta

Ken Ofori Atta and Eugene Antwi Ken Ofori Atta and Eugene Antwi

The Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency, Eugene Antwi, has questioned actions of the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta which according to him have cost the country on many economic fronts.

Citing previous decisions including the introduction of the E-Levy and the current IMF deal pending approval, the Subin MP also called for the head of the finance minister, urging the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take immediate steps to sack the minister.

Speaking in an interview on Okay FM’s ‘Adea Kyea Bia’ show, the legislator reiterated that the finance minister is the cause of the economic woes of Ghanaians and for that matter, the president shouldn’t hesitate to relieve him of his duties.

“You said Ghana won’t go to the IMF, today or tomorrow, so why are you (Ofori Atta) leading the discussion to the IMF, one person you brought E-levy the last time, all NDC members agreed with us to pay 1% so that everybody will be taxed, you said no, 1.5%, why? Ken Ofori Atta is using Ghana as an experiment or what?” Mr. Antwi asked.

Eugene Antwi also suggested that the president may be feeling reluctant to let the minister go because of his family links with him.

“We are running a democracy and not a family dynasty, so he should sack Ken Ofori-Atta, is that too difficult to ask the president to sack one of his ministers,” he added.

In November, some NPP parliamentarians demanded that Mr Ofori-Atta be sacked as Finance Minister.

The MPs, numbering about 80, held a press conference to impress on the President to relieve his cousin of the responsibility of managing the national purse or risk losing their support for government business going forward.

The minister was then referred to a committee of the parliament for a vote of censure. Contrarily, the vote of censure failed to remove the sector minister because the majority left the chamber during the voting and according to the constitution, the destiny of the minister must be decided by two-thirds of the house.

AM/WA