Ofori-Atta: NPP Directs Majority Caucus To Abstain From Vote Of Censure Against Finance Minster

• In a last ditch effort to stifle the vote of censure against the finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta NPP has asked the Majority MPs to abstain
• The party says the motion filed by the Minority has a sinister motive to disrupt efforts to return the collapsed economy to glory days
• The party's general secretary Justin Kodua Fimpong wants the whips to do well to get members of the Majority caucus to abstain from the voting
• The secret vote of censure on Thursday, November 10 will pass if two-thirds of parliamentarians support it and will result in the revocation of the appointment of the minister

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has directed the Majority Caucus to abstain from the vote of censure against finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

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The vote is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2022 and billed to be a historic attempt to revoke the president's appointment to the finance minister through the Legislature.

All 137 Minority MPs and at least 50 Majority MPs agree that Ken Ofori-Atta's appointment must be revoked because he has underperformed.

However, before the landmark process starts on Thursday, the party's General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, has directed all 137 NPP MPs and one independent parliamentarian to abstain from the vote that analysts say is certain to result in the removal of the minister from office.

"While the National Executive body acknowledges the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country and the need for urgent remedial interventions, it is our utmost position that the demand of the NDC-led Minority Caucus is ill-intended and aimed at derailing government’s efforts at resolving current socio-economic upheavals," the party said in a statement issued on the evening of Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

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NPP MPs boycott vote of censure against Ofori-Atta

According to the statement from the party's General Secretary, although there were similar calls to remove Seth Tepker as finance minister in 2015, the NDC, then the Majority failed to push through a vote of censure.

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

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story all 138 MPs in the Majority Caucus supports the call for Ken Ofori-Atta to be sacked after 80 MPs first made the call.

All 137 Minority MPs supporting the call managed to push through a motion for a vote of censure against the minister.

The secret vote on Thursday, November 10, 2022 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.

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We will impeach Akufo-Addo if he refuses to remove Ken Ofori-Atta after censure vote – Minority threatens

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

Also, the Minority in Parliament previously outlined all the seven reasons for calling for Ofori-Atta's appointment to be revoked.

The MPs say the minister has misconducted himself both professionally and legally.

They accuse the minister of withdrawing money from the Consolidated Fund unconstitutionally and putting himself in "despicable conflict of interest" situations.

The MPs cite the following reasons as justification to revoke Ken Ofori-Atta's appointment:

1. Despicable conflict of Interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana's economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantage, 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;
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 on excruciating cost of living crisis;
7. Gross mismanagement of the economy which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.

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Ken Ofori-Atta: Majority caucus to stay away from vote to decide fate of Finance Minister

Source: YEN.com.gh