The Majority Caucus in Parliament on Wednesday issued a tempered statement following a surprise announcement on Tuesday by some of its members who had called for the removal of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State for Finance Charles Adu Boahene.
Wednesday’s press statement by the Majority Caucus, signed by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, MP, Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, confirmed a much anticipated, but quick, meeting between President Nana Akufo-Addo and his party’s MPs about the surprise announcement, with Members of Parliament (MPs) of the governing National Patriotic Party (NPP) pledging to back the President.
Sources at Jubilee House had earlier indicated that the call for the removal of the Ministers for Finance had caught the Presidency by surprise.
According to the statement, the President has requested that the matter be delayed and “acted upon” after “the conclusion of the round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)” as well as the next presentation of the budget statement and economic policy”. This is to be followed by the passage of the Appropriation Bill, which is also a few weeks away.
The Majority Caucus, in their press statement, said that after internal discussions among their rank and file on Wednesday, they had “agreed to accede to the President’s appeal”.
In the meantime, analysts have pondered over the timing of Tuesday’s surprise announcement with looming fears over the uncertainty of the state of the country’s economic health should the Finance Ministers step aside, especially at a watershed moment. The two are currently leading negotiations on Ghana’s 17th return to the IMF. They are also in the middle of a yet-to-be finalised debt restructuring programme.