Bagbin resummons Ofori-Atta; orders him to face Parliament on June 22 after no-show

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has directed Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to appear before Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, to answer some 16 urgent questions tabled by members of the house.

Ken Ofori-Atta incurred the wrath of the Speaker last Thursday after he failed to appear before the House despite being scheduled to respond to some queries from MPs.

The Speaker placed all businesses related to the Finance Ministry on ice till the Minister appears before them.

At the close of sitting on Thursday, Alban Bagbin directed that the Minister should appear next Wednesday.

“Definitely, Wednesday will be a day he will have to answer all the questions and respond to the outstanding issues accounting for the utilization of the COVID-19 money. I hope the majority leader who is responsible for government business will communicate to the Minister responsible for Finance.”

Meanwhile, the Speaker has put all business from the Ministry of Finance on hold until all pending questions are answered, and a COVID-19 Expenditure statement is delivered by sector to the Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Already, a 75 million Euro facility for a COVID-19 response program has been suspended pending the delivery of the account statement to the house.

“Until we go through the accountability process, we will not take that motion… Today, he has another request before us. That will also be affected.”

“Until he comes to respond to the questions and to submit the statement giving an explanation as to how the money has been applied, we will not entertain any business from that Ministry,” Mr. Bagbin said.

The Minister was scheduled to answer questions and deliver an important statement on the floor on Thursday before he put in a late request for the session to be postponed.

The Minister has 16 questions to answer on a number of issues, including the utilization of COVID-19 funds.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu came to the defence of the Minister following the postponement of the session.

According to Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Mr. Ofori-Atta was yet to go over the responses to the question he was expected to deliver in Parliament.

“He pleaded that he should see them [the questions] first, read them and appreciate what the technical people have brought  and if there are any other matters to be added on he does so becomes to this House so that he will be able to give a comprehensive response.”

The Majority Leader also stressed that Mr. Ofori-Atta was not running away from the questions.

“For anybody to jump to the conclusion that the minister is running away from responsibility, I shudder to think of how that is coming about.”

Source: CNR