Now is not the best time to sack Ofori-Atta – Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the timing for calls for the removal of the finance minister is unfavourable. According to him, even the first phase of negotiations with the IMF has not been concluded; therefore, it will be “inappropriate” to sack the finance minister now. Quoted by asaaseradio.com, he said, “My advice after hearing them was that if they were talking about this matter two or three months ago, that would have been different.” According to him, “even the first phase [of negotiation with the IMF] has not been concluded. Those conclusions will be factored into the budget.” Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu explained that after the finance minister met with the IMF on negotiations for a financial bailout, the IMF team is also expected to come to Ghana for further consultations. “They [IMF team] have come here on two occasions; the minister has led a team to Washington to follow up on the discussions; they are coming here again next week. And soon after, the conclusions we will derive will be captured into the budget that we are expecting no later than November 15,” he stated. He pleaded with the MPs to put their calls on hold till the 2023 budget is finalized. “We are pleading with them that, looking at where we are, I am not too sure this is the appropriate time to be talking about this. So, I was pleading to let their feet pause the accelerator pedal for a while; maybe after the budget, we could resurrect it. Now is not the best time,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said. The majority caucus in parliament has called for the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta as Ghana’s Finance Minister, as well as Charles Adu Boahen, Ghana’s minister of state in charge of Finance. They made the demand on October 25, 2022, where they noted that these key players in the management of the economy must be removed in order to instil public confidence and put the economy back on track. Watch the latest episode of BizTech below: SSD/FNOQ