Not the best time to replace me – Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has given the strongest indication that he remains the capable person for his role and that calls for his replacement will not do the country any good, especially at a time of crisis, where concerted efforts are required to rebound the economy.
Appearing before the Ad hoc Committee of Parliament hearing the censure motion against him on Friday, he responded to a question on his competence by stating “I don’t think this is the time, the country with crisis where we sort of kick the ball to somebody else, all the energies that we have, resources, we team up, circle the wagons and move on, and we have been doing that very well.”
Mr.Ofori-Atta said, a key component of the national debt stock related to three (3) exceptional expenditure items that are neither external nor a creation of this government; Energy Sector Excess Capacity payments (GHC 17 billion), which relate to a legacy of take or pay contracts that saddled the country’s economy with annual excess capacity charges of close to US$1 billion; Direct COVID-19 expenditure amounted to GHC 12.0bn; and the Banking Sector Clean up (GHC 25 billion).
State to save US$4bn from IPPs
According to him, government has been able to renegotiate some of these power purchase agreements and the new agreements with the Priority IPPs, once finalized and executed will offer estimated nominal savings of more than USD 4bn over the next 5 years.
“We are in the threshold of getting into an agreement with five IPPs which will save the country about US$4bn.”
IPPs payments are expected to be made over the medium-term. Given that they have become explicit contingent liabilities, appropriately budgeting for them “above the line” ensures that resources are duly allocated for their settlement.
He also indicated that he expects to be the man in charge to present the 2023 Budget Statement scheduled for next week November 23, despite 98 Members of Parliament from his party warning they will boycott if he appears on the floor to do the presentation.
Mr.Ofori-Atta lamented about the delay in the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy, which according to him negatively impacted on the fiscal state of the economy
“Indeed, we all saw the dire consequences when the House, for months, refused to pass a major revenue generation item introduced by this government to support the fiscal stability of the economy”.
Further he added that the negotiation with the IMF is progressing steadily and well and we are working assiduously to achieve a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) by end of December, 2022.
The Minority in parliament on November 8,2022 submitted a motion of censure to remove the finance minister over alleged mismanagement of the economy and alleged unconstitutional withdrawals from the government’s Consolidated Fund to build a Cathedral, while the motion was blocked by the ruling majority, however the majority has demanded that President Akufo-Addo dismisses Ofori-Atta.
