A majority of Ghana’s ruling party parliamentarians on Tuesday asked the president to sack finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta and his deputy, in order to “restore hope in the financial sector”.
At least 80 lawmakers drawn from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) held a press conference on Tuesday evening to call for the removal of the two from office – over alleged mismanagement of the economy, excessive government spending, illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, and conflict of interest.
Neither the president, nor Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, have made official comments or issued a response to the wide-ranging allegations.
MPs have threatened to boycott further parliament activity such as the forthcoming 2023 budget hearing. This comes after opposition MPs filed an impeachment notice in the house.
The embattled minister, who is currently negotiating a $3bn (£2.6bn) bailout fund from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has come under scrutiny since December 2021, following the introduction of an unpopular 1.5% tax on mobile money transactions.
The Ghana cedi has also fallen significantly against the US dollar causing rising food prices and worsening the cost-of-living crisis, as inflation approaches the 38% mark.
