The Majority Members of Parliament (MPs) present in the House to debate the vote of censure against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta have staged a walkout.

By walking out, the Majority denied the House the quorum to vote on the report presented by the 8-member Ad-hoc Committee.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who led the walkout during the debate, explained that his side cannot be a part of the process.

https://youtu.be/CCb9nQugHgk

According to him, the censure motion filed by the Minority to oust the Finance Minister is out of bad faith, adding that it only seeks to embarrass Mr. Ofori-Atta.

“…. Like Pontius Pilate, we will wash our hands off this,” he said.

It would be recalled that there has been a number of calls for the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to resign or be sacked over his inability to manage the economy.

Also, the Majority MPs numbering about 80, held a press conference to impress on the President to relieve his cousin of the responsibility of managing the national purse or risk losing their support for government business going forward.

The NDC MPs also filed a censure motion the Minority filed a motion to that effect following the Majority MP’s demands to have the Finance Minister removed.

The motion was referred to an 8-member ad-hoc committee for hearing.

The Committee subsequently presented its report to Parliament on November 25, 2022.

It was then tabled in the order paper for debate and subsequent vote today. 

Meanwhile, the embattled Finance Minister has absolved himself of the allegations levelled against him by the Minority in their censure motion against him.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said the NDC group cannot substantiate their claims against him. 

Contributing to the debate on the report of the ad-hoc committee, he said the action has made the country’s democracy stronger. 

However, Mr Ofori-Atta urged the proponents of the motion to be more thorough in subsequent ones. 

He thus asked them to eschew partisanship and rather focus on togetherness in making the nation stronger. 

“Mr Speaker, this censure has done some good in advancing our democracy. We would hope that in the future, such censures will have some more thoroughness and will be less politically motivated. 

Mr Speaker, the allegations are what they say and I have very little more to answer after what all the answers I gave at the committee meeting that even if I say I am innocent, they will not believe me and if I ask for proof and truth, they will not be able to answer that. So I have committed no crime,” he said.