Accra – Ghana’s Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta survived a censure in parliament on Thursday after ruling party lawmakers walked out on a vote on his management of the country’s economic crisis.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government is under pressure as it negotiates up to $3 billion in bailout credit from the International Monetary Fund.
Opposition lawmakers in Ghana’s parliament – split between the ruling New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress – had sought to oust Ofori-Atta on a range of allegations.
House speaker Alban Bagbin said on Thursday the opposition minority voted 136 in favour of censure, meaning they failed to reach the two-thirds majority required to oust the minister.
Ruling NPP majority lawmakers had walked out before the vote.
Akufo-Addo has appealed to Ghanaians to support his efforts to manage the crisis as inflation has hit 40 percent and the national currency, the cedi, has devalued more than 50 percent against the dollar.
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Ghana is a top cocoa and gold producer with oil and gas reserves, but its debt service payments have soared and like the rest of sub Saharan Africa it has been hit hard by fallout from the global pandemic and the Ukraine war.
An IMF team is currently in Ghana negotiating the terms for the country’s loan agreement.
Ofori-Atta earlier this week announced a domestic debt swap as part of measures to turn around the economy and secure the IMF deal.
Opposition MPs had questioned him on alleged misuse of public funds and “alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy”.
Last month, in his parliament testimony, the minister denied any wrongdoing, but also apologised to Ghanaians for the struggles they faced.
The president has the final word on whether to dismiss the minister.
Last month, Akufo-Addo fired the government’s junior finance minister, Charles Adu Boahen, over graft allegations.
The Ghanaian leader this year reversed his government’s position and said he would seek an IMF loan after a new tax on electronic transactions failed to bring in the expected revenues.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@MDaangata
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