Will Ken ever leave post?

Calls for the Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta to step down as the Finance Minister started gathering moss in the second quarter of this year when the entire underbelly of the economy was exposed. Prior to that, specifically in 2018 and early 2019, the government assured Ghanaians that it had constructed a robust and resilient economic architecture that was capable of enduring any extreme economic pressure. Perhaps the government overestimated the enduring power of its economic structures or underestimated the weight of its economic adversaries. Somehow, this architecture came to buckle under the weight of new threats namely; Covid19 and the infamous Russia-Ukraine war. The cost of living started getting unpredictable as fuel costs and the cedi became intractable.  Sparking a series of demonstrations and labor unrest all over the country. While the government itemized the war and the pandemic as the major jinxes of our economic fortunes, some pockets of concern cited wastefulness and financial sleight of hand as the principal threats to the economy.

Particularly the finance minister, following the forceful passage of the e-levy, his alleged role in raising funds for the National Cathedral, and allegations of conflict of interest, he became the lightning rod for criticism. The ensuing hardship since January could only fester the pent-up grievances Ghanaians held against him and the government. It all culminated in an interesting turn of events in the Ghanaian political landscape. Members of Parliament for the NPP, a party to which the Finance Minister belongs demanding his resignation. No one could have anticipated that.  Ordinary people on the streets, who otherwise would not have known any better as to who to blame for the hardship they experience other than the president, found their whipping boy. The MPs' stance would have been thought to be an accelerant to get the minister out of office, but the minister turned out to have an ad-mobile conviction that he is the only person who can take Ghana to the promised land. The Finance minister even made an interesting analogy that he, as a father did not deem it fit to abandon the country (his children) in turbulent times. Perhaps Ghanaians do not appreciate the amount of love the minister has for the country to be calling for his resignation.

When the demand for the Minister’s resignation became too forceful to ignore, President Nana Addo asked his Party MPs to reason with him and wait until the minister presents the 2023 budget and economic policy before they determine his fate. One would just question the wisdom of having one person present a budget for another person to implement it. Because if  “determining the Finance minister’s fate” included the likelihood that he would resign, then he would probably not be the one to implement it. Unless the entire plan was a ruse intended to keep the minister while giving the agitated public some false sense of satisfied indignation.

 

Whatever the case is, the minister survived the ad hoc committee that was set up by the Speaker of Parliament to query him and possible impeach him from office. He also survived the demands for him to resign by pockets of the general public and even Members of Parliament of his Party. I am just curious, and I suppose you are too, of what will become of the Hon. Minister Ken Ofori-Atta now that he has presented the budget to Parliament.