Private legal practitioner Martin Luther Kpebu has commended the 8-Member Committee investigating the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for the work done so far.
In his view, Mr Ofori-Atta has been exposed by proceedings at the committee.
“The Committee’s work is commendable though it is not in the form or shape we wanted,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, November 19, 2022.
He added “the exciting thing is that the Minority kept the issues. It is satisfactory although some issues. Now Ofori-Atta can’t sleep, he will vomit the money.”
During proceedings on Friday November 18, Ken Ofori-Atta said he does not believe that the allegations made by the Minority in Parliament for his removal from office has any weight.
He told the Ad Hoc Committee that the proponents’ allegations do not have “weight for censure.”
Mr Ofori-Atta said the allegations leveled against him were false and went on to debunk each of them.
On the allegation of deliberate misreporting of economic data to Parliament, he said it is completely not true.
“Since I took office in 2017, I have served the country with integrity and honesty.
“Under my leadership at the Ministry of Finance, there have been significant improvements in the accurate reporting of public finances.
“Today, under President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians are enjoying greater accountability and transparency in the management of the public purse than any other period under the Fourth Republic,” he said before the Committee.
He said since 2017, the government has complied with the reporting provisions in the Public Financial Management Act 2016 (Act 921), including Budget Implementation report, Fiscal Reports, Public Debt Report, Petroleum Revenue Management Reports, ESLA report, etc.
On the issue of not including the financial sector clean up cost and the energy sector IPP payments in the deficit, the Finance Minister said contrary to the position of others, they were clearly stated.“I want to emphasize, with the Budget document as evidence, that these payments were reflected in the fiscal framework.”“Energy sector IPP payments were treated as “amortisation” and the non-cash financial sector clean-up payments were reflected in the “memo item” (Refer to Appendix 2A of the Fiscal Tables in the relevant Annual Budget),” the minister said.
Source: 3News.com|Ghana
