The Ghanaian finance minister survived a vote of no confidence in parliament on Thursday, following the accusation that his incompetence led the nation to its worst economic recession in decades.
During the meeting on Thursday, only 136 opposition MPs voted for the motion of no confidence after the majority MPs staged a walkout ahead of the vote.
Based on parliamentary procedures, at least 2-3rds of the lawmakers must vote the minister out for him to be impeached, meaning that at least 183 MPs must vote in favor or against, for a decision to be reached. However only 136 voted no confidence while the rest simply refused to participate.
This is the second time the minister is escaping the chopping blocks, as everyone points the fingers to him for Ghana’s bizarre underperformance in 2022.
The first time he escaped being dismissed was when the Ghanaian parliament called for his impeachment for failure to secure a proposed $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Despite the parliament’s outrage, the president of the country, Nana Akufo Addo vouched for the minister and advocated against his dismissal.
Ken Ofori Atta has been on the hot seat all year round. The country’s inflation rate has increased gradually month after month. The Ghanaian Cedi is the worst performing currency in the world, and the cost of living for Ghanaians have increased drastically.
However, the minister has defended himself, noting that the genesis of the country’s economic woes was the Covid-19 pandemic which caused the closure of numerous public and private businesses.
The minister noted that the country has not been able to fully recover from the blow, and to add to that, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also is also contributing to the crises.
Recently, the minister came up with an idea to relieve the country of its incredible domestic debt. Read the story here.
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