The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, believes allegations made against him by the Minority in Parliament do not warrant a vote of censure.
Speaking before the ad-hoc committee tasked by the Speaker of Parliament to probe the Minority’s allegations against the Finance Minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the proponents’ allegations do not have “weight for censure”.
Mr. Ofori-Atta also denied the allegations he was reckless with the country’s finances, hence the current economic crisis.
He said the claim was false, as he had complied with every laid down-regulation in the exercise of his role as Minister of Finance.
Instead, he said it was the action of the Minority in Parliament in 2021 that created chaos, leading to mistrust and subsequent withdrawals by investors.
He told the ad-hoc committee of Parliament hearing the censure motion brought against him that “I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.”
“Hon Co-Chairs, the ground of recklessness presupposes that I have not been guided by the laid-down regulations. I want to state that I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.”
“Rather, our strenuous efforts to protect the public purse is what has helped this government to have achieved much, much more than any government over a similar period in virtually all sectors, including education, health, social welfare, policing, security in general, roads, railways, agriculture, industrialisation, tourism, digitization, and funding for anti-corruption institutions,” he said.
He said every action of his was first discussed with Parliament and approval granted before implementation.
“On all those occasions, I received approval as Parliament subsequently passed Appropriations Bills for all those Budgets. Every key expenditure made has been supported by this House. Indeed, we all saw the dire consequences when the House, for months, refused to pass a major revenue generation item introduced by this government to support the fiscal stability of the economy,” he added.