Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North, Andy Appiah Kubi, has disclosed that an inner caucus group of governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, lawmakers he is a leader of, expect embattled Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to be removed by December 31, 2022.
He confirmed that the group of 80 plus MPs were part of a meeting where President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo appealed for them to stand down a request for Ofori-Atta’s removal until two critical issues have been resolved.
He told Accra-based 3FM in an interview that they understood that Ofori-Atta will be done with Phase One of his International Monetary Fund responsibilities by next week and his work on the budget and appropriation will end by December this year after which he will leave office.
“…personally, I understood the president to be saying that when the matters come to a close he would do our bidding. The whole IMF programme will end in April but the first phase, which is necessary for our budgetary preparations will end next week.
“The understanding is that the end of the first phase and the conclusion of appropriation, which is December, our understanding is that at that place, he will effectuate our request and indeed give and take, the maximum he can run up to is in December before Christmas.
“So, we condition our minds that all things being equal, we expect that to happen latest 31st December 2022,” he added.
The so-called ‘Ofori-Atta Must Go’ bloc via an October 25, 2022 press conference called for the immediate sacking of the Finance Minister over the current economic downturn.
But their meeting with the president ended in a deal that Ofori-Atta concludes first stage talks with the International Monetary Fund and sees to the presentation of the 2023 budget and its appropriation before he is removed.
SARA/PEN