A group of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament have petitioned president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to sack the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, and the Minister of State at the finance ministry, Adu Boahen, to restore public confidence in the economy.
This was announced in a media briefing by their spokesperson, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, Member of Parliament for Asante-Akim North, in Parliament on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.
The group said it will not do business with government nor support the 2023 Budget if the president fails to heed their calls.
According to them, the move follows previous concerns sent to the government that have not yielded any positive results.
“We have had occasions to defend allegations of conflicts of interest, lack of confidence, and trust against the leadership of the Finance Ministry.
“The recent development within the economy is of major concern to our caucus and our constituents. We have made our grave concern to our president through the parliamentary leadership and the leadership of the party without and positive response,” Andy Appiah Kubi said.
The MPs believe the move will change the current economic situation in the country.
“We are by this medium communicating our strong desire that the president changes the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry without further delay in order to restore hope into the finance sector and reverse the downward trend in the growth of the economy,” he added.
So far, about 80 NPP MPs have reportedly signed the petition for the sack of the Finance Minister.
UK Finance Minister sacked, Prime Minister resigns:
Meanwhile, Britain’s Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked on October 14, 2022, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) over some financial policy decisions that stirred trouble in the UK market.
Mr. Kwarteng’s tax-cutting announcement, made on September 23, is said to have caused panic in the financial markets, affecting the pound while increasing government borrowing costs and leading to a withdrawal of some offers for home purchase loans by lenders.
Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister of the UK a week after the sack of her minister and 45 days after she took office.
This was reportedly after opposition against the tax cuts and other policy decisions by MPs of the Conservative Party.