The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Subin constituency in Kumasi, Eugene Boakye Antwi who happens to be one of the aggrieved persons pressuring President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has rubbished claims that they could change their stands.
According to him, there is no turning back in their desire to see the back of the embattled Finance Minister even if they are whipped in line by the Majority caucus.
“I can assure you that my colleagues who have appended their signatures will not back down. I’m telling you, free consultancy. We have all sat down and reflected, we have all sat down and analysed the situation, that the course the president is taking us, can only see a wipe out at the 2024 elections if we don’t take a decision now. So it is not about money or gift. We are worried as members of Parliament ” the lawmaker who is part of some 80 MPs from the majority side calling on President Akufo-Addo to remove Ken Ofori-Atta said this when speaking on Accra based Citi FM on Tuesday evening October 25, 2022.
He mentioned that they the NPP MPs are calling for parliamentarian as replacement and not someone who is not a lawmaker thereby they want President Akufo-Addo to take the “bold decision to remove Mr Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen from the Finance Ministry was for “the good and future of the NPP.”
He indicated that there are a lot of competent people who can replace Ken Ofori-Atta when he leaves the Finance Ministry.
He said “The president has a pool of competent people, experienced people in the House of Parliament that can easily replace Ken Ofori-Atta.
“We want somebody in Parliament, we want somebody that we can see, we want somebody who respects Parliament.”
He said they do not want a Finance Minister from outside Parliament.
“We as NPP members will be urging President Akufo-Addo to bring us an MP, somebody who understands the work of parliament, somebody who is going to be with us,” but refused to mention a name when asked by the host if whether he has a name in mind, he responded by saying that the name he has, he is not the one who appoints but they are praying for President Akufo-Addo to bring an MP.
“We don’t want a non MP Minister for Finance anymore”, declaring that “We want a minister who can work with us.
“It is a one way street now, the President must listen to MPs who are going to support his business in the House, or decide to stick with his cousin and then lose some of us, because what we’ve told the president is simple, if he will still pick Ken Ofori-Atta as minister of finance and Charles Adu Boahen, some of us, we are going to boycott government business in the House,” Mr Antwi said.
Asked if he was bitter because President Akufo-Addo did not re-appoint him as a deputy minister in his second term, Mr Boakye Antwi debunked such claim saying “I have followed the president for two decades, when I met him, he was a foreign minister, I was his polling agent in Legon in 2007 [NPP presidential primary]. I am more interested in his legacy, than what people are talking about.
“I will say the person lacks intelligence. I did not go and beg Akufo-Addo for the position of a deputy minister, my record as a deputy minister is for all to see at the Works and Housing Ministry. You can go and see competence, you can go and see honesty.
“The president appoints, if he is not happy with you, he won’t appoint you, that is a matter for the president. We don’t write exams to be ministers.
“Why should I be worried (that I am opposing his choice of Finance Minister because he did not retain me as Deputy Minister), are all the ministers competent than me, are they more exposed than me or what. Don’t let us bring in these debates, the president has the power to appoint and he disappoints, that is his business. I am talking about my party, I am talking about the future direction of this government, that we want to continue to win successive elections.
“If we are going to do so, then what we ought to do is to let the President sit up and take a bold decision in the interest of the party, like I said earlier elsewhere, we are running a democracy, not a family dynasty, it is as simple as that.”
This follows some Majority MPs who on Tuesday called on President Akufo-Addo to remove the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, from office.
The move, the group said could help restore confidence in the Ghanaian economy.
Addressing the media in Parliament Tuesday morning, spokesperson for the group, Andy Appiah-Kubi, who is the NPP Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North said they will not do business with the government if the president fails to heed to their call.
“The majority has expressed great concern about our economy and our attempts at reaching out to the president through his Ministers have failed.
“We are by this serving notice and indeed, notice is being served now that if the president fails to act, we will not do business with him,” he said.
By Vincent Kubi