A heated exchange erupted on the floor of Parliament on Friday, November 21, 2025, as the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, and the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, clashed over the continued absence of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who is expected to return to the country to face investigations into alleged corruption-linked contracts, including the GRA–SML deal and the National Cathedral project.
OSP formally charges Ken Ofori-Atta, seven others with 78 counts
The exchange began when the Minister of Local Government, Ahmed Ibrahim, reminded the House of an earlier assurance from the Minority Leader that the former minister would return to Ghana by February 18, 2025.
He pressed for an update, questioning why Ofori-Atta had still not appeared.
“He gave us authoritative information that by February 18, 2025, the honourable former Finance Minister was going to be in Ghana. So, I’m saying, where is the former Finance Minister?
“I thought you were going to tell us his whereabouts. Ministers of Finance who have occupied that office, after their tenure, remain in this country. Where is he?” he quizzed.
In response, Afenyo-Markin rejected suggestions that he had misled the House.
He explained that Ofori-Atta had formally notified the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) about his medical condition and plans for travel.
“The records would bear me out… Ken Ofori-Atta had written to the OSP, through his lawyers, that he was going to be in the country on or before May… Ken Ofori-Atta again indicated that he had been booked for surgery.
“When it comes to ill health… all of us may go through it one way or the other. If a man is going through a serious medical condition, how many of us would be bold enough to disclose our medical records? But the man has disclosed his medical record,” he noted.
The Member of Parliament for Effutu also condemned attempts to politicise Ofori-Atta’s situation.
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“Let’s be fair to Ken Ofori-Atta. It can be you tomorrow,” he remarked.
But the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, pushed back sharply, insisting that MPs were not being insensitive.
He argued that Ofori-Atta’s health concerns had only become a matter of national debate because he was required to account for his stewardship.
“You are giving an impression that members on this side are insensitive to the medical condition of Ken Ofori-Atta… Ken Ofori-Atta was very sick in this country. You could see the sickness in his face. But at that time, it was sweet to be a Finance Minister.
“How come that suddenly, because today he is being sought after by the law enforcement agencies, he cannot live in this country and is claiming illness? He was sick when he was the Finance Minister. We all saw it,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the OSP has announced that it will arraign eight accused persons, including Ken Ofori-Atta, before the court on Monday, November 24, 2025.
He has formally charged Ofori-Atta, along with seven other individuals, with a total of 78 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences.
JKB/MA
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