Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, says he is innocent of all the claims brought against him in the censure motion filed by the Minority in Parliament.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, December 8, 2022, during the debate on the report of the committee that probed the censure motion, Mr Ofori-Atta said he had done no wrong.
He said excluding a few of the allegations brought against him; he has done “nothing amiss with them.”
“Mr Speaker, even if I said I am innocent, they will not believe me, and if I ask for truth and proof, they will not be able to answer that. I have committed no crime,” he stressed.
He was, however, optimistic about the future of Ghana’s democracy based on the procedures of this “historic censure.”
“This censure has done some good to enhance our democracy.”
The Finance Minister hoped that in the future, “such censures will be more thorough, honest and less politically motivated.”
It will be recalled that on October 25, 2022, the Minority in Parliament filed a censure motion against the Finance Minister in compliance with Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, referred the vote of a censure motion against Mr Ofori-Atta to an ad hoc committee of Parliament.
The committee, composed of eight members, with four from each side of the House, was expected to submit its report for consideration within seven days.
NDC Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine and NPP MP for Adansi-Asokwa KT Hammond co-chaired the committee.
During the hearing, Mr Ofori-Atta told the committee on Friday, November 18, that the proponents’ allegations did not have “weight for censure.”
He said each of the allegations levelled against him was false and went on to debunk each of them.
On the allegation of deliberate misreporting of economic data to Parliament, he said it was false.
“Since I took office in 2017, I have served the country with integrity and honesty. Under my leadership at the Ministry of Finance, there have been significant improvements in the accurate reporting of public finances.
“Today, under President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians are enjoying greater accountability and transparency in the management of the public purse than any other period under the Fourth Republic,” he stated.