Former President John Mahama has joined calls for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to be dismissed.

He explained that the Minister is partly to blame for the country's current woes.

Some 80 New Patriotic Party MPs on Monday called for the immediate dismissal of Mr. Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu-Boahen for their non-performance which has resulted in the poor state of the economy.

According to them, the continuous stay of Ken Ofori-Atta in office is delaying the IMF bailout the country is seeking due to the fact that the Minister has lost all credibility.

But after a meeting with the President, the NPP MPs reached a compromise to allow the embattled ministers to stay in office till after the IMF negotiation is done.

Per the press statement released by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minister of Finance will stay “until the conclusion of the round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy in November, 2022 and the subsequent passage of the Appropriation Bill after which time the demand will be acted upon.”

However, John Mahama contended that this decision by President Akufo-Addo is untenable.

According to him, dismissing Ken Ofori-Atta will in no way affect the IMF negotiations and the 2023 Budget.

“I only got to know of a press statement by the Majority of a so-called compromise that the Minister will leave after he has completed the budget and the IMF negotiations…budget preparations and IMF negotiations are the results of teamwork, they are not the work of one individual. I fail to see how the absence of the Minister will affect the preparations of the budget and the negotiations with the IMF,” he explained.

Addressing the nation on the economy on Thursday night on the theme: "Building the Ghana we want", John Mahama blamed the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta for the country’s economic woes.

He said the President’s seeming inability to remove Mr. Ofori-Atta from office is making the situation worse.

“To be clear, we’re in this mess because of an untouchable Finance Minister relying on his Databank workers and neglecting the advice of seasoned experts at the Finance Ministry. He has been left to run this economy into the ground’.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/akufo-addo-to-address-nation-on-economic-challenges-october-30/

"We’re in this mess because of the so-called solid Economic Management Team, who over the last several years has been unable to call the President’s cousin (Ofori-Atta) to order when he embarked on a reckless borrowing spree”.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo is expected to address the nation on the economic challenges on Sunday, October 30.

The address by the President comes in the wake of recent public agitations about the ailing state of the economy.