“Akufo-Addo will go down in history as the president who mostly disrespected public appeal”- Minority

The 2023 budget is scheduled to be presented on Thursday, November 24, 2022, despite an earlier-but-twice-U-turned demand by some 98 government MPs that a new face other than Mr. Ofori-Atta read the budget. The minority caucus in parliament has claimed that it feels betrayed by the majority caucus regarding the motion of censure against Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

On November 23, 2022, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu spoke to the media.

“President Akufo-Addo will go down in history as the president who mostly disrespected public appeal because, as far as we are concerned, public opinion is not supportive and favourable to the continuous stay in office of this failing, beleaguered lame-duck Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.”

The Minority submitted a motion to reprimand the Finance Minister for claims of conflict of interest, financial irresponsibility that contributed to the fall of the Ghana Cedi, and egregious economic mismanagement, among other things.

Due to the present economic difficulties, several New Patriotic Party members of parliament also urged the President to fire the Finance Minister.

On November 24, they had threatened to skip the unveiling of the 2023 budget.

But national executives and the Council of Elders of the NPP on Tuesday stepped in to resolve the impasse between the NPP members of the Majority Caucus and the President over the demands for the sacking of the Finance Minister.

As a way to break the deadlock, a statement co-signed by the NPP’s general secretary and the majority chief whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, pleaded with the majority members to hold off on their demands until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout discussions are over.

The NPP lawmakers had threatened to skip all of the Finance Minister’s business that was brought before the parliament, including the budget presentation scheduled for November 24, 2022, on that day.

In order to prevent them from following through on their threat, the NPP national executives met with the members of Parliament.

“President Akufo-Addo will go down in history as the President who mostly disrespected public appeal because as far as we are concerned public opinion is not supportive and favourable to the continuous stay in office of this failing, beleaguered lame-duck Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta.”

The Minority Leader told Journalists on Wednesday “We feel let down, and we feel betrayed by the Majority caucus, who have shown no wits in supporting us with our impeachment process…We are not abandoning our censorship motion, and we are in it for the long haul,”.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com