We don’t support minorty on censure – Majority Caucus

Some members of the Majority Caucus who on October 25 called for the immediate removal of Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the finance minister, on Thursday disassociated themselves from the Minority Caucus’ position.

At News Conference in Parliament House, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie, Member Parliament (MP), Effiduase/Asokore said: “We are back to the original position that we took, and that original position is to say that the minister of finance would not be the one to read the budget and must not be the one to do the appropriation.

“We are here this morning to say that this is going to be soon for him to see the position of us and we going to be positive and infinite on that posture until that action is taken, however, we are not going to support the cause of the NDC in the Chamber this morning.”

Dr Afriyie said the cause of the National Democratic Congress MPs was premised on falsehood, propaganda and reasons that were not justifiable, adding “their position might look like ours but is not the same.”

“You will not be able to come to the chamber to level 10 issues that bother on criminality over a person who is not there to defend himself and we have come to let you know, let you not confuse the public or yourselves about the cause of the majority and that of the minority.

“It is not the same, ours will remain as it is after a meeting this afternoon, we will come back to state our position and it will be that” he said.

According to Dr Afriyie, the 80-member group’s feeling of confidence in the finance minister was gone.

He hailed Mr Ofori-Atta for the demanding work that made the economy stable during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war but bemoaned the pressed turn of events that had overshadowed understanding, logic, and competence of challenging work.

“When you lose confidence the only sector that it affects is the market, pockets and people is the finance ministry…therefore for us, we have nothing personal against him our position is clearly that if confidence has gone down with him, he must go and that is not the same as that of the NDC,” he said.

In his reaction, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, Deputy Minority Whip, said the Minority Caucus’ motion for the censure of Mr Ofori-Atta was in the national interest.

He urged the Majority Caucus to seek national interest above partisan interest by supporting the motion.

The MPs wanted Mr Ofori-Atta and Dr Charles Adu Boahen, a Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, dismissed over their poor handling of the economy which was in dire crisis.