We’ll not support Minority’s vote of censure, but #KenMustGo - Eugene Antwi
We will not support the Minority’s motion for a vote of censure for the removal of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Member of Parliament for the Subin constituency in Kumasi, Eugene Boakye Antwi has said.
Rather, he says they want President Akufo-Addo to remove Mr Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen, a Minister of State at the Finance Ministry from office.
Advertisement
"I don't think we are going to support the NDC [minority] to remove our minister. We have just made a sacred call to the president of Ghana, that his members of Parliament, we want him to politely and humbly ask his two ministers to step aside. We are on a different tangent, not same as the NDC.
"They [NDC] are going through a censure motion, we have made an appeal, because remember, a month or two ago, the President touring the Northern region, where he said that those making the clarion call for the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta were NDC members, if I'm right. And we said, we demonstrate to the whole country today, that it is not NDC members seeking the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta, rather, some [NPP] members of Parliament who are not happy with the performance of Ken Ofori-Atta and the pronouncements.
"You see, the covid, post-covid and the Russian Ukraine war are all part, that is fine. The Minister of Finance made categorical pronouncements that, we are a great nation, we have the resources, we have the capacity, we will not go to the IMF today... So based on that alone, we think there is a credibility deficit on the part of the Finance Minister and as such, he ought to resign from his position."
"Because the IMF people won't take it easy and the better the president replaces him today, bring a fresh person, the better. That is all we are asking for, together with the Minister of State, Charles Adu Boahen. We are not asking for anything else. The NDC is going for a censure motion, they shouldn't count on us [NPP]. We have made a categorical demand on the president to remove these two people, or asked to step aside."
Mr Boakye Antwi is part of some MPs from the NPP majority side calling on President Akufo-Addo to remove Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister.
Already, he has indicated they will want the president to replace Mr Ofori-Atta with a parliamentarian.
Speaking in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra based Citi FM on Tuesday evening [October 25, 2022], Mr Boakye Antwi said if Ken Ofori-Atta goes out as Finance Minister, "the president has a pool of competent people, experienced people in the House of Parliament that can easily replace Ken Ofori-Atta.
As of Tuesday when they addressed the press conference, they claimed to have 60 signatures and 20 more in support of their position who were yet to append their signatures.
Later in the day, when the caucus met, their leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said about 90 of them were in the meeting and almost everybody there was in support of the position except for two people, who had concerns that they were not consulted before the press conference was held, but even with that, they were all aligned with the principle that, the Finance Minister ought to be removed.
Give us replacement of Ken Ofori-Atta from Parliament - Subin MP Eugene Antwi
One way street
"It is a one way street now, the President must listen to MPs who are going to support his business in the House, or decide to stick with his cousin and then lose some of us, because what we've told the president is simple, if he will still pick Ken Ofori-Atta as minister of finance and Charles Adu Boahen, some of us, we are going to boycott government business in the House," Mr Antwi said.
Eugene Antwi served as deputy Minister at the Works and Housing Ministry in President Akufo-Addo's first term 2017 to January 2021. He was not retained as a deputy minister.
In the radio interview, he disagreed with a suggestion that he was peeved he was not retained as a deputy minister, hence his decision to support the call for Ken Ofori-Atta's removed.
Attached below is a copy of the motion for vote of censure by the minority side
Read also: Sack Ken Ofori-Atta to restore hope in economy - 20 Majority MPs
Some Majority Members of Parliament on Tuesday asked President Akufo-Addo to remove Mr Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, from office.
The move, the group said could help restore confidence in the Ghanaian economy.
Addressing the media in Parliament Tuesday morning, spokesperson for the group, Andy Appiah-Kubi, who is the NPP Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North said they will not do business with the government if the president fails to heed to their call.
He said members from their side will not participate in any government business including the budget hearing until their demands were met.
"The majority has expressed great concern about our economy and our attempts at reaching out to the president through his Ministers have failed.
“We are by this serving notice and indeed, notice is being served now that if the president fails to act, we will not do business with him," he said.
Writer's email: [email protected]