The Majority Leader/Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, took time to explain why the Majority Members of Parliament staged a walkout during the voting on Censure Motion brought before the House by their counterpart Minority Members of Parliament seeking the removal of the Finance Minister, Kenneth Kuntunkununku Ofori-Atta, from office.

In his typical characteristics of keeping the general public abreast with the happenings in Parliament, the Suame legislator was on Kumasi-based Hello FM to expatiate on issues of national interest which have caught the attention of the august House of Parliament during the current Meeting.

Responding to a question posed by King Edward The Slave, the host of the Akoko Abon Show, on why the Majority ‘betrayed’ their Minority colleagues, the Majority Leader chronicled the processes that led to the voting and gave a bullet-point response to each of the charges preferred against the Finance Minister, and the subsequent reasons why, in the view of the Majority Caucus, the legitimacy of same could not be ascertained.

In respect of the first charge of ‘conflict of interest’ levelled against the Finance Minister, he explained that the constitution per Article 287 imposes an obligation on the Minority to have taken the Finance Minister to the Commission for Human and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

The Minority sidestepped this constitutional imperative and wanted instant justice on the Minister. Secondly, the Minority had cited the Minister for ‘breach of the constitution’.

The Majority in that regard urged the Minority to seek declaration of those alleged violations from the Supreme Court as required by Article 2 of the Constitution. The Minority again declined that invitation, and wanted instant justice on the Minister.

Also, the Minority claimed the Finance Minister had created an offshore account and had siphoned state money into that account. However, they could not provide evidence on this.

The Majority Leader even referred to the candid admission by the Minority Leader that some of the allegations levelled against the Finance Minister were true but some were not true.

Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in summing up, posed the question ‘In the face of such pedestrian accusations, how could the Majority join ranks with their colleagues in Minority to crucify the Finance Minister?’
He insisted that, in Parliament, truthfulness matters but not shear/empty propaganda.

He therefore concluded that the Majority Caucus could not have supported such unsubstantiated claims knowing Parliament is a house of records.

The Majority Leader also touched on Ghana’s discussion with the International Monetary Found (IMF), the current state of discussion on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as presented by the Finance Minister and other matters relating to the forward march of the New Patriotic Party (The NPP).

Report by;
Agyemang Richard