{"id":1243578,"date":"2022-11-04T10:09:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/04\/ive-gone-through-all-the-pains-and-aches-ken-ofori-atta-reacts-to-critics\/"},"modified":"2022-11-04T10:09:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:09:50","slug":"ive-gone-through-all-the-pains-and-aches-ken-ofori-atta-reacts-to-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/04\/ive-gone-through-all-the-pains-and-aches-ken-ofori-atta-reacts-to-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;ve gone through all the pains and aches &#8211; Ken Ofori-Atta reacts to critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Ken-Ofori-Atta.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-text\">\n<p>The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has replied to his critics who have called for his head.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, he has felt the \u2018pain and aches\u2019 but is more concerned about how the country surmounts its challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a Finance Minister who has gone through all the pains and aches, and nobody can really come and say \u2018we don\u2019t understand what we\u2019re doing\u2019,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) on Thursday, Mr Ofori-Atta expressed confidence in the country, saying it is purposed for greatness.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1376258830&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At this time when the country is facing severe economic hardships, he wants Ghanaians to discuss how the country\u2019s resources can be utilised effectively to ensure growth and development instead of the heightened calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past weeks, Ken Ofori-Atta has been under intense pressure to step down over what is believed to be gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy.<\/p>\n<p>Members of his own party, including some <strong>Majority MPs<\/strong>, have also thrown their weight behind the calls and have threatened to boycott government business if he is not sacked.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p>But Mr Ofori-Atta has rallied the support of Ghanaians in taking the country out of the woods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me assure you all that your best bet is still Ghana; we can do it and we should do it. The question is \u2018what resources do we have\u2019 and \u2018how we\u2019re going to deploy them in the nation that we have\u2019?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 and how do we stand firm in very difficult circumstances by being very confident that the nation is purposed for greatness and you are blessed to have the opportunity to lead where we are going.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p><strong>Censure motion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Minority in Parliament has already filed a motion of censure<\/strong> against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.<\/p>\n<p>According to them, the Minister is incompetent and is to blame for the current economic woes of Ghanaians.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with JoyNews, the Minority Leader \u2013 Haruna Iddrisu \u2013 said they are hopeful by November 10, they can conclude processes to remove Mr Ofori-Atta.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1375916371&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>motion has been admitted by the Speaker<\/strong> of Parliament, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the entire Majority Caucus is in support of the calls for President Akufo-Addo\u2019s cousin to be sacked.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p>\u201cEven though the issue started with the group of 80 plus, the caucus meeting aligned with the position of that group, so it is no longer the cause of the 80 plus MPs. It is the agenda for the entire caucus and we are having some discussions on that,\u201d the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu disclosed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>President\u2019s plea<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>President Akufo-Addo has asked for more time for the Finance Minister to conclude negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before any talks of resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Documents available to JoyNews suggest a deal could be reached with the IMF in three weeks for a $3 billion balance of payment support.<\/p>\n<p>This, the President believes, could be disrupted if Ken Ofori-Atta is sacked or forced to resign.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p>This was an outcome of a meeting held by President Akufo-Addo and NPP Members of Parliament over the demand for the finance minister to be sacked over his handling of the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Some NPP MPs say several efforts to have government address the plights of their constituents with regard to the ailing economy had proved futile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has replied to his critics who have called for his head. According to him, he has felt the \u2018pain and aches\u2019 but is more concerned about how the country surmounts its challenges. \u201cYou have a Finance Minister who has gone through all the pains and aches, and nobody can really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1243580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1243578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1243578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1243578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1243578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1243578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}