According to information obtained by GhanaWeb, Ken Ofori-Atta, the troubled Finance Minister, will address a vacant Parliament on November 24 in order to read the 2023 budget statement.
The minister won’t be able to deliver the budget to the House since there won’t be a quorum as needed by the Constitution because both majority and minority MPs are reportedly not going to be there on the day of the budget presentation.
Even though the Minority MPs and several NPP MPs wanted Ken Ofori-Atta to resign, he had already said he would still present the budget.
The minister after facing censure committee on Friday told an Accra-based Joy News that Ghanaians should expect him to present the budget on November 24.
When he was quizzed by journalists that will he go to Parliament to present the 2023 budget, he responded, “yeah, expect so. That seems to be a weird question.”
Ken Ofori-Atta further stated that he has not heard officially that some NPP MPs have indicated boycotting his budget presentation.
“I don’t know; I haven’t heard that officially…,” Ofori-Atta stressed.
The 98 NPP MPs insist that they will boycott the budget presentation if the minister appears before the House.
“We’ve gone back to (our demand for the President to) sack him now and therefore should the budget be presented under the stamp of the Finance Minister, we’ll not participate because as far as we’re concerned we’re never going to do business with him,”
The Asante Akim North MP further explained on JoyNews’ PM Express programme on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, that they will only participate in the budget presentation and appropriation if the President appoints someone else other than Ken Ofori-Atta to present the budget.
“We’re not saying we won’t do the President’s business. We’re saying we won’t do President’s business through Ofori-Atta. So if anybody else comes with President’s business, we’ll participate,” Appiah-Kubi said.
Source: Theindependentghana.com
