We’ll boycott 2023 budget if you don’t sack Ofori-Atta – NPP MPs to Akufo-Addo

Some 80 New Patriotic Party(NPP) legislators have threatened to boycott the 2023 budget presentation and debate if the president fails to sack Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

The MPs believe Mr Ofori-Atta must take full responsibility for the country’s current economic challenges.

Addressing a press conference Tuesday, October 25, 2022, the Majority Caucus called on the president to immediately dismiss the Finance Minister and the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen.

“We are unhappy with the developments in the country. We consulted our constituents, who also expressed the same sentiments.

“We want the President to remove Ken Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen,” said MP for Asante Akim North, Andy Kwame Appiah Kubi, who spoke on behalf of the group.

Mr Appiah Kubi further explained that the Majority Caucus would not participate in any government business if the president failed to heed their request.

“Notice is hereby served that until such persons as aforementioned are made to resign or removed from office, we members of the Majority caucus here in parliament will not participate in any business of government by or for the President [or] by any other minister,” he explained.

One of the major businesses for these MPs is the approval of the 2023 budget, which will be pivotal to expenditure, especially when government finances are in limbo.

“We are saying that if our request is not responded to positively, we will not be present for the budget hearing, neither will we participate in the debate,” he stressed.

The 2023 budget is crucial to the government because of the general elections, which will take place the following year in 2024.

There have been several calls from Ghanaians, including opposition parties, some CSOs and other critics, for the President to sack the Finance Minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta, as the nation grapples with harsh economic conditions.

But responding to calls for Ofori-Atta’s head, President Akufo-Addo, in an interview on Kumasi-based OTEC FM, said he cannot turn his back on the Finance Minister because he’s been excellent on the job.

“I came to office in 2017 under a stringent IMF programme. This same man was able to manage the affairs of our economy in such a way that in the first four years of my first term, we were one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with an average growth rate of 7% a year from the beginnings of an IMF programme.”

“An economy that allowed us to initiate the programme Planting for Food and Jobs. So somebody who has been able to do that and the current economic difficulties are not his fault. So how do I do that (sack him)? What will be the basis? What will be the rationale?”