In a statement he signed, Suame MP and Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu clarified some of what President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pleaded with the Majority MPs to allow Ken Ofori-Atta to propose the 2023 budget and wrap up Ghana’s talks with the IMF.
The appeal was made following a press conference called by the majority of MPs calling for the resignation of the finance minister.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs claims that the president did not categorically state that he would fire Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry Charles Adu Boahen following the IMF negotiations and the reading and appropriation of the 2023 Budget when he met with Majority MPs.
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.