Ken Ofori-Atta
FINANCE MINISTER, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on Ghanaians to remain united in the face of the current economic challenges the country is going through.
Mr. Ofori-Atta made the appeal last Friday when he appeared before the ad hoc committee set up to probe the motion of censure filed against him by the Minority in Parliament.
According to him, what was happening to Ghana, just like other countries around the world, required a united and concerted response by all to overcome.
He said Ghana was a resilient nation capable of rising above every hardship.
“Ghana has faced economic challenges since independence. Ghana has always come through each of them stronger and better than before. God willing, we shall come out of these difficult times too. Ghana will and must rise again,” he emphasised.
Witch-Hunting
He, therefore, advised Ghanaians to eschew witch-hunting and entrapment, factors which he said would hinder economic growth.
“Let us all work as one country to support our labour negotiations, find a solution to the impasse in Parliament and rise above witch-hunting and entrapment,” he advised.
“The Ministry of Finance and I have been working so hard 24/7 to quickly restore market confidence and ensure economic growth,” he stated.
Inadequate Review
Dressed in his usual all white kaftan apparel, the minister questioned all the seven grounds stated for his removal, asserting that the proponents were not thorough enough in their review, which resulted in the striking out of the two of the grounds by the committee.
The charges of “despicable” conflict of interest, and legal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution were struck out by the committee prior to Mr. Ofori-Atta’s testimonies.
“It is therefore unfortunate that in the co-chairs’ estimation of the two grounds that have been struck out, it sounds to me like there was not a thorough review of the grounds as it should have been.
“But to bring somebody for censure, will require these things to be done in absolute thoroughness. I am pleased with the decision that has been made. I am certain that Ghanaians will have a more balanced view of the events that led us here as I take the opportunity to speak to the matters so raised,” the minister stated at the committee’s hearing.
“I implore our chiefs, elders and church leaders to take the mantle and speak a common language. Let us all work as one country to support our labour negotiation, find the solution to the impasse in Parliament and rise above witch-haunting and entrapment,” he stressed.
No Ennobling
According to him, these are not ennobling and progressive for a society seeking transformation, arguing that Ghana is a resilient country and would come out of the present difficulties.
Cathedral
Responding to the allegations, the minister denied breaching the constitution in making payments to support the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
“I want to say that this is not just true. I have not taken money out of the Contingency Fund to make payments for the National Cathedral,” he insisted and said that accusation that he unconstitutionally withdrew from the Consolidated Fund in “blatant contravention of Article 178 of the Constitution supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral.”
“That took me for a loop. I did not know what the President’s cathedral was. Let me first submit that I am uncomfortable about the formulation of this ground.
“It presupposes that Parliament is assuming the jurisdiction to enforce and interpret a provision of the constitution against combined effect of Articles 21 and 130 (1) which grant the sole and exclusive power to the Supreme Court,” he contended.
Confusion
Mr. Ofori-Atta said it appeared the proponents confused the Contingency Fund with the Contingency Vault, noting, “There is a difference between Contingency Fund and Contingency Vault.”
“The Contingency Fund is what is covered under the constitution (Article 177). This constituted money voted by Parliament and advances from this must be authorised by the parliamentary Finance Committee,” he explained.
He continued, “The Contingency Vault, on the other hand, is aligned under the government’s obligation vault which is approved by the Finance Committee and is passed as part of the annual Appropriation Act passed by Parliament.”
The minister asserted that in preparing the annual budget, the practice is that provision is made for indicative expenditures that have not been fully costed at the time of the budget presentation.
Brazil Money
“Provisions are made in the Contingency Vault to cater for such expenditures. For example, in 2014, there was no specific allocation in the 2014 budget for Ghana’s participation in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
“The cabinet of President Mahama in March 2014 at the time approved some $9.622 million for that tournament, including that amount which was just flown to Brazil in a private jet for the players,” he stated.
He emphasised, “All the payments made for the National Cathedral were lawfully done and from the Contingency Vault under the other government obligations vault and not from the Contingency Fund, as alleged by the proponents.”
Misreporting
On the issue of deliberate misreporting of economic data to Parliament, the minister described the accusation as not only unfortunate, but also “simply untrue and for that matter the Ministry of Finance never misreported to Parliament as has been alleged.”
“That allegation that different sets of data were presented to Parliament and the IMF is not true.
“The 2019 Article 4 which they cited actually and clearly demonstrates the computing and reporting of the deficit is consistent between the government and the IMF as shown on the table labeled Ghana Selected Economic and Financial Indicator from 2017 to 2024 on page 4 of the IMF Article 4 and Appendix III (A) in the 2019 budget,” he explained.
IMF Programme
He said more importantly, Ghana was under a fund programme during that period and could not have been able to exit the programme, “if there were inaccuracies with the data we reported and the methodology used for computing the deficit.”
BY Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House