Majority backs 8-member Adhoc-Committee to probe Ofori-Atta
The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has backed the Speaker of Parliament’s ruling to set up an eight-member adhoc Committee to probe the vote of censure against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to Hon. Afenyo-Markin, the majority approached the debate on the motion of censure on issue of fair trail and have been left happy about Speaker’s ruling.
“We should follow due process, we approached our issue on grounds of fair trail and we are happy after the beautiful discourse, the nature of which established democracies have practiced over the years, a committee has been constituted to enact the rule of procedure and determine issues of evidence which will form a prima facie ground for a report for the plenary.
The New Patriotic Party MP for Adansi-Asokwa, KT Hammond, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine will co-chair the ad-hoc committee set up to probe allegations by the Minority against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Committee was set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, after the Minority caucus moved a motion for the vote of censure against Mr Ofori-Atta.
Other members of the committee include Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings and Bernard Ahiafor from the Minority side, while Patrick Yaw Boamah, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi and Andrew Agyapa Mercer constitute the group from the Majority side on the committee.
The committee will have to present their report to the House in Seven (7) days, according to the Speaker of Parliament.
Mr. Bagbin stated that setting up the committee will provide a fair opportunity for the finance minister to respond to allegations raised against him.
“The evidence will be placed before the committee. The Minister will have the opportunity to defend himself. A report will be presented to the House, and we will debate that report,” the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin said.
The motion of censure was filed last week Monday by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, for the removal of the finance minister.
The motion is embedded with a seven-point allegation as grounds for the removal of the minister.
Among the seven-point allegations embedded in the motion are a despicable conflict of interest ensuring that the minister directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantage, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.
