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Ghana’s Democracy Has Benefitted From The Censure Motion: Ofori-Atta
The Minority Caucus in Parliament censured the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, on seven grounds of incompetence and poor management of the national economy.
To that effect, Mr. Ofori-Atta claimed the motion had helped Ghana’s democracy.
“This Censure has done some good in advancing our democracy; as we would hope that in future, such censures will have more thoroughness, will be less politically motivated,” he highlighted.
Speaking in defense of himself on the House Floor during a discussion of the censure motion, Mr. Ofori-Atta said he was innocent of the charges brought by National Democratic Congress Party MPs.
The Seven Grounds Of The Censure Motion
In one of the motion’s seven grounds, it is claimed that Mr. Ofori-Atta actively benefited from Ghana’s economic problems by giving his companies commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, especially because of Ghana’s debt burden.
In Ground Two, it was claimed that money had been illegally taken out of the Consolidated Fund in flagrant violation of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution, ostensibly to build the National Cathedral.
Meanwhile, Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution was allegedly violated in egregious fashion, according to Ground Three, by the illicit payment of oil profits into offshore accounts.
In contrast to Ground Five, which claimed fiscal irresponsibility caused the crash of the Ghana cedi, which at the time was the worst-performing currency in the world, Ground Four asserted purposeful and willful misreporting of economic statistics to Parliament.
Furthermore, ground six and ground seven both accused the Minister of gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, which had caused untold and unprecedented hardship.
The Ad-hoc Committee
Meanwhile, the Adhoc Committee, which held a public hearing on the motion, voted to recommend it to the plenary for consideration in response to the Finance Minister’s attorney’s opposition on Ground One that the matter of a conflict of interest was outside the purview of Parliament.
In regards to Ground Three, the Committee decided there was no need for the Minister to respond and that they would instead present a written report on the matter to the plenary after hearing testimony from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).
On that note, Mr. Ofori-Atta pronounced as follows:
“Mr. Speaker, the allegations are what they say and I have really very little more to answer after all the answers that I gave at the committee meeting.
“For I tell you, Mr. Speaker, that even if I said I am innocent, they will not believe me, and if I ask for truth and proof, they will not be able to answer that. I have committed no crime.
“Mr. Speaker, let me just remind us as we talk about the issue of recklessness, of mismanagement, of conflict of interest, and also remind ourselves of our Covid-19 experience, of our Ukraine War and, Mr. Speaker, ask ourselves the lack of recklessness and mismanagement and the lack of these events.
I ask my colleague (referring to Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament) who used to be at the Ministry, what happened in 2015, for Ghana to run to the IMF?”
“No recklessness, no mismanagement, no COVID, no Ukraine War, and Mr. Speaker, President Akufo-Addo’s Government had to then come and bail them out and we did so successfully.”
Conclusion
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