A government spokesperson has described as unfortunate, the decision of the Minority in Parliament to file a censure motion against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

According to Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, the Minister has been committed to his duties since he was appointed for the role.

“I found it quiet unfortunate that our Finance Minister had to be dragged to Parliament to go through a censure for impeachment and removal from office. I felt it would have been good for the conversations that had arisen in terms of the 7 allegations to be before the Finance Committee in Parliament.

"But I’m quite happy and excited that the Finance Minister had an opportunity and a fair hearing to rebut those allegations that came against him," he said on JoyNews' AM Show on Tuesday.

Touching on who will be presenting the 2023 budget to Parliament, Mr. Boakye-Danquah said he was confident that the Finance Minister will assume his role as expected of him.

In his view, Mr. Ofori-Atta is still an acknowledged Minister of State and the one handling the country’s finances, hence the assuredness that he will deliver the budget statement come this Thursday.

“It is the President’s budget, and so the Finance Minister is still the Finance Minister of the Republic of Ghana.  I’m confident that he would deliver the budget on Thursday, God willing, to the Ghanaian citizens,” he told Benjamin Akakpo.

Mr. Boakye-Danquah further touted the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration and emphasized that all the 16 flagship programmes of government have succeeded.

Mr. Ofori-Atta has been under fire since commodity prices, including that of petrol, started increasing. This has affected the cost of other goods and resulted in high cost of living.

The populace have thus expressed dissatisfaction with his performance as the guardian of the nation’s treasury, thus want him to resign.

As a result, the Minority Caucus in Parliament filed a motion of censure to have him removed.

Prior to the motion of censure, some 80 NPP Members of Parliament expressed their discontent with the embattled Minister and threatened to boycott all Finance Ministry-related business and budget presentation, should the President refuse to sack Mr. Ofori-Atta from office immediately.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, considered the censure motion moved by the Minority in Parliament and referred it to an 8-member ad hoc committee for hearing.

The embattled Minister made an appearance before the Ad hoc committee last Friday to convince the Committee that despite the accusations made against him, he should not be fired.