News:
Dr. Kwabena Donkor
July 8, 2022
The Member of Parliament for Pru East, Dr. Kwabena Donkor has asked the Minister for Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori Atta to resign his position as a matter of national duty to offer the president the free hand to appoint a new capable hand to lead the country’s negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to Mr. Donkor, though Mr. Ofori Atta has excellent record as a private businessman who has contributed his quota to national development, his performance in the public sector leaves much to be desired.
He asserts that the Finance Minister having categorically stated a few weeks ago that this country would not go to the IMF and then beat a retreat and now we are in discussion with the IMF, “duty and honour requires that he steps down”. According to him, Mr. Ofori Atta has come to the end of the road, adding that though he has a lot of respect for him, “the national interest requires that he resigns for somebody else, another captain to lead the team towards the negotiations”.
Failure to this, he said the country would be negotiating from a position of weakness. “When a Minister says we would never deal with the IMF and he is dragged unwillingly before the court of public opinion to go negotiate with the IMF, he would be negotiating from a serious position of weakness and this country would not get the best out of that negotiation”.
He advised that the Finance Minister taking the initiative to tender in his resignation would save him the little honour left, and he can become an adviser to the government in the negotiations but not as the minister responsible for finance. The former Minister for Energy under the erstwhile John Mahama Administration also believes Ghana has gotten to a point in its governance system where ministers must begin to take responsibility.
“A minister who categorically states that we would never go to IMF cannot be dragged unwillingly to IMF to lead our negotiations; if we love our country we need somebody who would believe in what he or she is doing to lead the negotiations”.
He noted that If Ken Ofori Atta does not resign, “I believe the parliament of Ghana must keep faith with the people of Ghana; and the people of Ghana deserves better than this. Parliament has the power to ask him to go and parliament must act”.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com