Aggrieved lawmakers of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament say they have not abandoned the call for the removal of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta after the presentation of the 2023 budget.
According to the rebel MPs, they are seriously determined to see the back of the Finance Minister.
They said it is time for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Adfo to grant their demand for Finance Minister’s sack.
The Majority members have been pushing for the removal of Mr Ofori-Atta from office for what they said were his incompetence and conflict of interest.
Prior to this latest demand, they threatened to boycott the budget presentation but backed down on their demand after meeting the leadership of the governing NPP.
Spokesperson for the aggrieved group, Andy Appiah-Kubi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akim North Constituency in the Ashanti Region told 3Fm in Accra on Wednesday February 8 that they expect the president to live up to the roadmap for the removal of the minister after the appropriations on the budget have been approved.
According to him, in pursuance to the roadmap, they agreed with the president to have the finance minister move the motion for the budget and the appropriations made.
“The indicators were not the total conclusion of the IMF deal. The roadmap was the passing of the budget, the approval of the appropriation and conclusion of the first phase of the IMF negotiation which we’ve reached already because we have reached conclusion at the staff level and this is the first phase of it. So for all that happened at the negotiation we have delivered as one party: as members of parliament, it is up to the President to deliver as a contracting party, he told 3FM.
Prior to the passing of the budget, the spokesperson for the group told journalists in Parliament, Accra that
“We made a request to him (President) and he said we should wait till the presentation of the budget and there after accede to our request so we are waiting and expect him to act,” he said.
But an earlier jointly signed statement after that meeting by the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh and General Secretary of the party, Justin Kodua Frimpong, said that it was agreed that “the President would act upon the request” after the minister had presented the budget, the Appropriation Bill passed and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund were concluded.
The ‘rebel’ MPs, however, developed a cold feet towards the debate of the budget and have stayed away from same in what political watchers said was a silent protest against the continuous stay in office of Mr Ofori-Atta.
“We have not disappointed our constituents, we are just respecting the roadmap as agreed with the President and once we have accepted to respect his request for the minister to see through the budget, which we have done, we expect the President to honour his side of the agreement.”
By Vincent Kubi