Former National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, is of the strong opinion that Mr Ken Ofori-Atta is not best placed to head the Finance Ministry and take charge of the country’s economic activities.
In an interview on TV3 on Tuesday, Mr Mornah noted that until Mr Ofori-Atta is relieved of his position, calamity will continue to befall the country.
According to him, the Finance Minister, unlike his colleagues in the West African sub-region has failed to prove his worth – and the indicators such as the fallen Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and high inflation – are testament.
Mr Mornah also noted that Mr Ofori-Atta is unethically benefiting from loans gotten from the international market.
Data Bank, a company said to be owned by Mr Ofori-Atta, he says is the beneficiary.
In his words, Mr Mornah said: “Unless and until the Finance Ministry is liberated from Ken Ofori-Atta and the Data Bankers, we will continue to have this mess that we have.
That is why I am surprised that when President Akufo-Addo decided to move a Deputy Minister who is knowledgeable in finance from the Ministry of Energy to the Ministry of Finance, I was hoping that that would have been the basis for which Ken Ofori-Atta would have been shackled out.”
He continued: “… Ken is within the sub-Region. All his other colleagues are doing higher GDP. All his colleagues are doing inflation far lower than he is doing. None of his colleagues are benefiting indirectly from borrowing from the International institutions.”
In his view, “Ken is a disaster that this nation needs to vomit”, emphasising that “Ken is simply a calamity that has befallen this nation.”
During the presentation of the 2023 Mid Year Budget Review in Parliament on Monday, July 31, Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the total revenue generated and grants for the first half of 2023 was GH¢59.3 billion, representing 7.4% of GDP. This, he said, was 8.4 percent below the target of GH¢64.7 billion (8.1% of GDP).
Also, total expenditure of GH¢68.5 billion, which is 8.6% of GDP, was 26.3 percent below the programmed expenditure of GH¢92.9 billion (11.6% of GDP). This implies that government spent less.
“All other expenditure lines were contained within their respective targets for the period
except for Compensation of Employees and Expenditure on Goods and Services,” the minister added.
In view of this, the Finance Minister noted that the overall Real GDP growth for 2023 has been revised to 1.5 percent from 2.8 percent.
Also, non-oil Real GDP growth has also been revised to 1.5 percent from 3.0 percent.
“The downward revision in projected growth for 2023 is an indication of a broad slowdown in the three sectors of the economy as a result of factors such as the fiscal consolidation plan and difficult global conditions,” the Minister explained.
This and many reasons some individuals are calling for the sector minister’s sacking.
#KenMustGo
The Finance Minister has been accused by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of unethically and unlawfully benefiting from his position to siphon Ghana’s money.
The opposition Members of Parliament on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 filed the motion to trigger a process to revoke the minister’s appointment citing severe economic challenges.
The MPs cited the following reasons as justification to revoke Ken Ofori-Atta’s appointment:
- Despicable conflict of Interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantage. particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.
- Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral;
- Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution;
- Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament
- Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst performing currency in the world;
- Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and on excruciating cost of living crisis;
- Gross mismanagement of the economy which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.
Ofori-Atta stays
The vote of censure motion filed by the Minority against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta failed.
This is because only 136 legislators on the Minority side voted to demand the removal of Mr Ofori-Atta thus falling short of the two-thirds constitutional requirement for the motion to pass through.
The proponents of the motion needed the votes of 183 legislators to have the motion passed against Mr. Ofori-Atta.
Prior to the vote, the New Patriotic Party MPs staged a walkout.