Former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has said Parliament’s decision to oust the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta from office is in the right direction.
Speaking on the Morning Starr with Nana Dedei Tetteh Friday, November 4, 2022 Dr. Duffuor indicated that in as much as the nation is in crisis the blame should not be heaped on one person.
“Parliament has taken a decision that he should go, they are the people’s representative. If the people are saying that he should go, why not. That is what they are saying. They represent you in Parliament and they say they don’t want him to be there,” he added.
According to Dr. Duffuor, the government must look at a complete overhaul of its Economic Management Team (EMT) in a bid to fix the prevailing economic challenges of the nation.
“As a nation, have we found out why we are here now with our economy? Why are we in this crisis and how did it come about? Did it start a year ago, two or three years ago? You as human beings if you don’t know where you come from and who you are and your identity you can’t achieve anything as a human-being.
“We are in crisis now, how did we get here and who are those who brought us here. The economic crisis we have now, we have to try to identify the reasons, causes and what has brought Ghana to this level before we touch on one person, Dr. Duffuor advised.
He continued: “There is a need for an overhaul of the whole economic management team. Have we done that?”
The former Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) said in 2001 the nation opted for HPIC and completed the program in 2005 with a cash to the tune of about $3.9 billion dollars.
“Our public debt came to about $2.2 billion dollars. In 2007 we went to the Eurobond market. That was the first time Ghana went to the Eurobond market. So when we took over we made sure that we will never go back to this market because of the price and cost.”
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the Finance Minister’s ploy to delay the presentation of the 2023 Budget cannot save him from censure.
The lawmaker in a tweet on Friday contended that all previous budgets presented to the House by Ken Ofori Atta have been worthless as the country’s economic woes rather deepened under his watch.
“Ken Ofori-Atta can choose to illegally delay the Budget presentation to Parliament for as long as he wishes but that won’t save him. In any case, all his previous 6 Budgets have brought doom and damnation. Budget or no Budget, we’re going ahead with the Censure Vote.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
