Embattled Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has gotten massive support from economist and former rector of GIMPA, Professor Stephen Adei.
Adei lamented the manner in which Ofori-Atta’s integrity had recently been questioned by sections of Parliament, stressing that it was unfair to the extent that it sought to impugn his hard-won integrity.
“Our leaders [Members of Parliament] must be very careful when they want to impugn the person’s integrity and almost brand him as a thief.
“I have no doubt at all that Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has more integrity than 99 percent of all politicians I know in Ghana,” Prof Adei said in an interview on JoyNews, November 30.
Weighing in on the Minority’s vote of censure motion that in part accused the Minister of engaging in a conflict of interest relative to Ghana’s bond issuance on the international markets, he said:
“The charges on conflict of interest and the fact that he was supposed to have stashed some 100 million dollars elsewhere which impugn on his integrity. I have known Mr. Ofori-Atta for almost 23 years, I can say that he is a friend, a businessman of high integrity and therefore, for me, those two charges were very troubling.
“I believe that the NPP came into power over-committing themselves, there is over-borrowing and you know, you might disagree with policy and of course, there were internal and external factors, but I do not think that it is fair to impugn on the integrity of Ken Ofori-Atta. I know him personally as a Christian, as a businessman and as a politician,” he added.
Aside from the Minority’s vote of censure, which report is to be debated in Parliament, Ofori-Atta is also under pressure from a group of NPP MPs who are calling for him to be dismissed.
President Akufo-Addo is set to decide on their request which he promised will be looked into after the passage of the 2023 Budget and appropriation of same and conclusion of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, relative to support the fund will give to Ghana to support the current budget.
Source: GhanaWeb
