The eight-member Adhoc Committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to probe allegations leveled against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta commenced its work on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
The Minority’s motion for the vote of censure mentioned the overall mismanagement of the economy and ethical concerns, among others.
The Speaker, after hearing the Minority, set up the committee to investigate the allegations and present a report within seven days.
According to the Speaker, setting up the committee will provide a fair opportunity for the Finance Minister to respond to allegations raised against him.
Read: 8-member Adhoc committee formed to investigate Ken Ofori Atta
Reiterating the grounds for the removal of Ken Ofori Atta before the committee, the Minority leader of Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu said “I would like to proceed by tending in parliamentary debate official report of 10th November 2022 in evidence, which is the motion I moved which was ably seconded, by the Whip, the Honorable Muntaka expecting full debate.
According to him, they are dissatisfied with the performance of the Honorable Minister for Finance and think that he’s not competent enough to continue to hold office as Ghana’s Minister responsible for Finance.
“So, chairman, we have grounds. I just take two and yield the floor to Honorable Ato Forson,” he stated.
“Let me start with National Cathedral. I mean, Ghana is a very respected religious country where there is coexistence, both Muslims and Christians alike. Nobody is against the President promising and honoring God with the Cathedral for the purpose of the expression of the Christian faith. But when public resources are used for that purpose, it needs us to call into question.
“So, our tender is in evidence and say that we are aware that by a warrant signed by Honorable Ken Ofori Atta, 29th October 2022 on expenditure GHS 142,762,500 was allocated for the construction of the Cathedral. We want to know when parliamentary approval was granted for this purpose.”
Touching on the rise in the country’s inflation, Mr. Iddrisu stated that the rise in inflation has contributed to the unacceptable hardships that Ghanaians are going through and the Finance Minister is solely responsible for that.
“The steepest depreciation in the currency to the US dollar over the last 30 years; 2017 $1 was to GHS 4.20. Today $1 is to GHS 15.00. The cost of doing business is unacceptably high for businesses. The pharmaceutical industry is complaining because it affects their imports and they are made to pay more. The depreciation of the cedi has affected even Mokola women who cannot trade effectively because they’ve had to lose and lose because this is a consequence of the borrowing,” he added.
On his part, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson noted “I’ll start with item four, where we have here written deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament.”
“We are all aware and we have seen that government since 2018 has been misreporting economic data to Parliament with the aim of misleading parliament and the investor community.”
He said the misreporting to parliament was mainly to inform Parliament that the Finance Minister has complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Act 2018, Act 982 particularly section four when that was not the case.
These among other grounds are the reasons the Minority has called for the sacking of the Finance Minister.
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta together with his lawyer, Gabby Otchere Darko were present on the first day of the public hearing.
The committee investigating the allegations leveled against the Finance Minister is being chaired by the Bolgatanga East MP, Dominic Ayine, and the Adansi-Asokwa MP, K.T. Hammond.
The other members of the committee are Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, and Bernard Ahiafor from the Minority side, while Patrick Yaw Boamah, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi and Andrew Agyapa Mercer form the group from the Majority side on the committee.
The committee drawn from both the majority and minority sides is to report their findings back to the house for a decision to be taken on the matter.
Source: Rosemond Asmah/ATLFMNEWS
