Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta made an appearance on the first day of sitting by the Ad Hoc Committee investigating the Vote of Censure motion to demand documentary evidence of the charges made by the Minority.
In the company of his Lawyer, Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the Finance Minister demanded to be furnished with the particulars of each charge that has been raised in the attempt to oust him from office.
He presented a letter requesting these particulars before the Committee commenced sitting.
Mr. Asare Otchere-Darko who spoke on behalf of the Minister at the sitting on 15th November, 2022 argued that in the interest of justice and fairness, the particulars of facts in support of each charge need to be provided.
He argued Ken Ofori-Atta risks a heavy punishment of losing his office and therefore should be given a fair chance of defending himself.
One of the co-chairs pointed out that all the documents that have been listed by the proponents of the Motion are public documents authored under the authority and in the custody of the Finance Minister himself.
Mr. Otchere-Darko, however, argued some of the documents being relied on by the proponents of the Motion are voluminous and will take time for the Minister and his counsel to go through to get the relevant particulars.
“That is why we demand that the charges be complete with the particulars, that is all I’m asking,” he stated.
Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Casiel Ato Forson who led the Minority’s evidence on the Vote of Censure motion presented a tall list of documents they intend to rely on in evidence.
These include government Budget Statements from 2019 to 2022, Mid-year Budget Statements from 2019 to 2022, physical data from the Ministry of Finance website, IMF staff report, Auditor-General’s Reports from 2018 to 2020, PIAC Reports 2019 to 2021, Physical Responsibility Act 2018, Act 982, the Public Financial Management Act and the Petroleum Management Act.
In his evidence, the Minority leader stated that Ken Ofori-Atta is not competent enough to continue to be in office as Ghana’s Minister responsible for Finance.
Speaking on ground 7 as contained in the Motion ‘Gross Mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy,’ the Minority leader argued this situation has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship on the Ghanaian people.
According to him, President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his address to the nation on the economy admitted to the difficulties arising out of rising inflation and government borrowing and stressed, “We are wholly holding the Finance Minister solely responsible for this.”
On ground 2, ‘Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral,’ the Minority leader argued as a respected religious country, nobody has a problem with the building of a Cathedral but stressed when public resources are used in such a project raises a lot of questions.
According to him, Mr. Ofori-Atta signed a warrant to allocate some GH¢143 million for work on the Cathedral without recourse to Parliament for approval, which is a blatant breach of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr. Ato Forson, in his evidence, quoted sections of the Fiscal Reasonability Act, Act 982, and argued today Ghana’s debt is unsustainable as required by the Act and queried how the debt became unsustainable even with the rules.
According to him, Section 4 of Act 982 spells out that Parliament can pass a Vote of Censure on the Finance Minister when he breaches Section 2 by more than one percentage point and states the Fiscal Reasonability rule should not be more than 5%.
“So anytime we exceed it by 6%, a Vote of Censure may be presented to Parliament or someone may trigger it. Section 2 also says the primary balance should always be positive so if you breach by one percentage point a Vote of Censure may trigger.”
He argued the government, through the Minister, however, violated these provisions and went even about 7% but failed to report same to Parliament by treating some expenditures below the line in the fiscal accounting.
These, he said, are grounds enough for Parliament to pass a Vote of Censure on the Minister because he did not only fail to protect the public purse but also failed to report the true status of the economy.
The grounds as contained in the Vote of Censure Motion filed by the Minority include:
- Despicable conflict of Interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from debt overhang.
- Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral;
- Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution:
- Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament
- Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world
- Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis
- Gross Mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy that has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship of the Ghanaian people.