Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party declined a request by the opposition to back a bid to remove Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, but said it would continue to push for his dismissal.
(Bloomberg) — Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party declined a request by the opposition to back a bid to remove Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, but said it would continue to push for his dismissal.
The opposition National Democratic Congress earlier this week urged members of the NPP to support its motion of censure against Ofori-Atta after more than half of the ruling party’s members of parliament last month called for the minister to be fired.
Lawmakers began debating the opposition motion on Thursday afternoon.
“The majority cannot support the minority on the vote on censure,” Nana Ayew Afriye, a member of the NPP, told reporters at a briefing broadcast on Joy FM radio in the capital, Accra.
“The course of the NDC is premised on falsehood and propaganda; their reasons are not justifiable.”
Ofori-Atta is under fire over his failure to deal with the West African nation’s economic crisis.
Ghana’s currency plunged and yields on its eurobonds surged this year because of investor concerns about the sustainability of its debt. The decline in the cedi has pushed the annual inflation rate to more than 40%, sparking protests by traders and consumers, and the government has been forced to seek a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Read: Cedi’s Drop for Months Portends Deeper Losses for Ghana Currency
According to the motion of censure read in parliament on Thursday, the opposition wants Ofori-Atta removed for alleged conflict of interest and unconstitutional withdrawals from the government’s so-called Consolidated Fund to build a cathedral.
Under the constitution, once a vote of censure is passed against a minister, the president may revoke their appointment if they don’t resign.
The motion requires a two-thirds majority to pass in the 275-seat legislature.
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin said that an ad hoc committee is being established to investigate the allegations by the minority and provide Ofori-Atta with an opportunity to defend himself.
Once the committee, which has seven working days has delivered its report to parliament, the motion will be debated further before a vote takes place, he said.
Last month, about 80 of the ruling party’s 137 lawmakers demanded President Nana Akufo-Addo fire Ofori-Atta over the nation’s economic crisis.
It also called for the dismissal of the minister of state in the finance ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.
“We are back to the original position we took and that is to say that the minister of finance will not be the one who must read the budget,” Afriye said.
“We are going to be positively defiant and hold that posture until the action is taken.”
Ghana’s Public Financial Management Act requires the annual budget to be presented to parliament by Nov.
15.
Read: Why Ghana Went From Hero to Zero for Investors: QuickTake
–With assistance from Moses Mozart Dzawu.
(Updates with timeline for ad hoc committee in seventh paragraph.)
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