Habib Iddrisu, the deputy majority chief whip, has criticized private attorney Martin Kpebu for asking for the impeachment of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because to the weak performance of the Ghanaian economy.
The majority chief whip, who is also the Tolon constituency’s representative in parliament, claims that Mr. Kpebu’s call, which he bases on Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution, is without foundation.
“For such a person to make such a call is reckless.
When he appeared as a guest on TV3’s New Day program, he questioned whether it was “irresponsible in the sense that you are suggesting we should utilize Article 69 to impeach the president on what grounds?”
While seeking to accuse the legal practitioner of engaging in hypocrisy, Mr Iddrisu questioned why Martin Kpebu never made a similar call when Ghana went through economic difficultly under the previous administration.
“Where was he when we were at IMF, when public sector recruitment was frozen, dumsor was everywhere that was collapsing businesses… when a lot of things were going wrong, did he say we should invoke that?” he said.
The deputy majority chief whip also added that “Why didn’t he say that in the previous administration when President John Mahama was supervising an actually messed up economy up to today? What is happening today apart from the external factors is not from today. It started from somewhere.”
The Tolon MP went on to point out that Ghana’s current economic challenge is largely a result of the impact of external factors and not mismanagement on the part of the Akufo-Addo-led government.
“We are in difficult and trying moments that is a fact; COVID has affected every economy, Russia-Ukraine war has affected every economy and other internal factors that have happened. Yes, if you want to actually say that things are not going well the president should sit up, the president should give us answers and other things, these are calls in the right direction. But to say that we should invoke Article 69, on what basis?” he questioned.
Martin Kpebu has become a staunch critic of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government amidst the current economic hardship in the country. He has called on parliament to impeach the president.
Mr Kpebu has also commenced a campaign calling for the president’s resignation and as part of his advocacy, the legal practitioner is organising a demonstration against the president.
The demonstration dubbed ‘Kume Preko Reloaded’ is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022, in Accra.
In a recent interview on Neat FM, Martin Kbepu justified his call for the president’s resignation saying “what Ghanaians can do to get the president removed is to organize demonstrations. The police have given me permission for the ‘Kumi preko reloaded’ demo next Saturday, November 5. It starts from the Obra Spot at 7:00 am; every Ghanaian should make it a point to be there.
“If the president does not resign by then, we demonstrate and present him a petition that we have had enough of him, and he should step down,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is scheduled to address the nation on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
The address by the president will be his first major speech on the current state of the Ghanaian economy which has over the past weeks seen a significant rise in inflation among others.