Deputy Majority leader in Parliament Alexander Afenyo-Markin has served notice to the Minority group they will not support the Vote of Censure motion against the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to him, the Motion is politically motivated and has already failed, and stressed the Majority will have nothing to do with it.
“We told you it is a political motion. We will not support you, we made it clear. So that imaginative number you’re thinking of, you won’t get any support,” he said.
The Deputy leader and also member for Effutu was responding to overtures by the Minority leader for some members of the majority to support his side to pass the censure.
Speaking on Thursday 1st December during presentation of the Business Statement for next week, the Minority leader indicated if the House fails to take the Motion because of the busy schedule, it is only natural it is deferred to next week and be part of the business statement.
He appealed to the Speaker to accordingly direct the Chairman of the Business Committee to take note.
Though the Order Paper for the day did not contain the Motion on the Finance Minister, it found space for the Censure Motion against the Health Minister Kweku Agyeman-Manu
Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu indicated the word in Article 82 of the Constitution does not give Parliament perpetuity to discuss the matter and stressed the House is within defined time limits to consider the Motion, particularly in respect of the Finance Minister, and take the appropriate decision.
The Minority leader admitted it may be an exercise in futility and failure if he does not get the cooperation of the majority.
He said, “If the Majority cooperates Mr. Speaker we will be very successful in getting a new Minister of Finance for Ghana and exit Ken Ofori-Atta.”
“If you don’t cooperate our exercise may end in failure because we don’t have the thresholds of the two-thirds majority required of 183. Some people may change their minds after today and come support us,” he added.
According to him, he wants the votes for the Motions to be taken through the secret ballot for the records so the Minority Caucus will get to be registered where they stood in the course of history and time when the country was subjected to unacceptable hardship
Mr. Afenyo-Markin in response challenged the Minority leader to respect the rules and procedures and argued the House did not hesitate in making the referral to a Committee even as the Minority fiercely opposed this move.
According to him, Ghanaians watched the evidence that the Minority leader led during the Committee sitting and also listened to the Finance Minister on the allegations to the extent that the Committee unanimously dropped two of the grounds.
He said, “Mr. Speaker, we read the report and it will come before the House. Nobody is against the process so he should not create any impression.”
“The mischief the Minority leader wants to create with the impression that somebody doesn’t want this censure motion, which has already failed from coming to an end; Who told you, you are going to get any support from us.”
“We will debate you on that day and prove to you it is a personal attack on the Finance Minister. We’ll let you know as we told you.”
The Deputy Majority leader stressed no member of the Majority will support the censure even during a secret ballot and stressed the Motion is an NDC matter and has nothing to do with the Majority.