Ofori-Atta is still finance minister because he is Akufo-Addo’s cousin – NPP presidential hopeful

A New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku, has said that the relationship between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has made it difficult for the president to fire the minister.

According to a news report by myjoyonline.com, Nsafoah Poku said that Ofori-Atta would no longer be finance minister if he were not a family relation of the president.

He added that the failure of the president to sack his cousin, Ofori-Atta, is why it is wrong to appoint ‘family and friends’ to positions in government.

“Nana Addo has been through thick and thin with his cousin, Ken Ofori-Atta. That’s why people have challenges with friends and family in government. When you’re a president, you take a decision in the interest of the nation and not in the interest of what’s good for Nana Addo,” he is quoted to have said.

The presidential hopeful added that he would never employ any of his family relations into top positions in his government.

“If I had a cousin, no matter how good he is, I will not be put in that position. There are other people who are also good to do the same job. Because you might end up having family issues at home. Sacking your cousin is not lightly; you will fall out with him,” he said.

Nsafoah Poku; a civil engineer, also said that President Akufo-Addo has not done so well in the fight against corruption.

He said that a lot of people should have been imprisoned by now because of crimes they committed especially in the banking sector clean-up exercise.

“There are a lot of people that should be in prison by now. I don’t see how the trial of the Duffuors is being done at a snail’s pace. The government borrowed 24 billion cedis, we are going to IMF for less. If taxpayers are paying for monies they mismanaged, all those banks that went down including Beige and Allied Savings and Loans should be in prison,” he said.

BAI/WA

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