Ofori-Atta’s Dismissal As Finance Minister Now Very Certain As All NPP MPs Agree He Must Go

• It has emerged that all 138 MPs in the Majority Caucus supports the call for Ken Ofori-Atta to be sacked after 80 MPs first made the call
• Already 137 Minority MPs supporting the call have gotten a motion for a vote of censure against the minister approved
• The secret vote on November 10 is most likely to succeed since the law states that only two-thirds of all MPs must vote in support of the motion for it to pass
• If it passes, the appointment of the minister would be revoked immediately, and it would be the first in Ghana's history

It started with only 80 MPs calling for the finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta to leave office for plunging the country into chaos, but now all 138 MPs in the Majority Caucus agree.

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The disclosure by the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu means a vote of censure against a motion laid before the Speaker by the Minority MPs will most likely succeed in revoking the appointment of Ofori-Atta.

“Even though the issue started with the group of 80 plus, the caucus meeting aligned with the position of that group, so it is no longer the calls of the 80 plus MPs. It is the agenda for the entire caucus and we are having some discussions on that,” he told Joy News.

With this revelation, it means Parliament will have more than two-thirds majority of the vote to revoke the appointment of Ken Ofori-Atta as minister.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has refused to sack the minister and his deputy, Adu Boahen, despite numerous calls.

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Akufo-Addo appealed to agitating NPP MPs to hold on until the IMF deal to get $3 billion of bailout cash goes through.

“Despicable Conflict of Interest” And 6 Other Reasons Why Finance Minister Could Lose His Job

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that the Minority Members of Parliament on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, filed the motion to trigger a process to revoke the minister's appointment, citing severe economic challenges as one of many reasons.

On the same day that about 80 Majority MPs called for the minister to be sacked, about 129 opposition NDC MPs also signed a memo on the motion of vote of censure.

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has approved the motion and a secret vote is scheduled for November 10, 2022.

The vote is most likely to succeed now that all NPP MPs are aligned to the protest against the minister because per Article 82 of the Constitution, two-thirds of all the 275 Members of Parliament or more, that is at least 183 MPs, can pass a vote of censure on the troubled minister.

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According to the law, a minister of state against whom a vote of censure is debated is entitled, during the debate, to be heard in his defence.

"Where a vote of censure is passed against a Minister under this article the President may, unless the Minister resigns his office, revoke his appointment as a Minister," the law states.

See All The 7 Stated Reasons NDC MPs Have Cited For Wanting Ken Ofori-Atta's Appointment Revoked

1. Despicable conflict of Interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana's economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana's debt overhang

2. Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President's Cathedral;

3. Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution;

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4. Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament

5. Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi, which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world;

6. Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis;

7. Gross mismanagement of the economy, which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.

Source: YEN.com.gh