Sack Ken Ofori-Atta for breaching Fiscal Responsibility Act – Minority demands

The minority in Parliament wants the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta out of office for breaching the Fiscal Responsibility Act that he established.

According to them, they will activate the clause in that law that requires the finance minister to be sanctioned by pushing him out of office.

They claim that Mr Ofori-Atta failed to inform the house one clear month ahead of time that he will exceed the fiscal deficit and therefore needs parliament support to suspend the act.

Mr. Ofori-Atta this week went to Parliament to seek for suspension of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which states that government cannot spent more than 5% of Gross Domestic Product every year.

Per the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the finance minister can only spend more than 5% of GDP of government revenue, unless he calls for a review of the act one month before the review.

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu in addressing parliament said “Mr Speaker, respectfully, let me refer you to paragraph 438; unthinkable and unimaginable, instead of doing what is needful under the public financial management act, the minister is coming for what he calls and I quote “Mr Speaker, from the development that far, it is clear that the fiscal rules of a deficit not exceeding 5% of GDP and a positive primary balance enshrined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2018, Act 982 are neither feasible nor unthinkable.”

“Within the regime of fiscal deficit he [Ofori-Atta] himself said in the law that if he exceeds the fiscal deficit of 5% then he will go home and that he should be sanctioned”, the Member of Parliament of Tamale South said.

“So to evade the sanctions he has come for Parliament to suspend the law. We will not suspend the law, he will undergo the sanction; he define it for himself”, he emphasized.

Furthermore, he said “under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, he provided law. Mr Speaker, if he himself under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and we kept arguing that the base in terms of the fiscal management and fiscal legislation was what the NDC under President Mahama became a public financial management.”

“In any case, Parliament, do you suspend your laws; you came and lay papers for suspension of fiscal law, if you coming for a review of the law, come for it, you want an amendment of the law, come for it because the law was definite”, he mentioned.

He concluded by saying that “Mr Speaker, when the choir master says he has breached his own 5% rule, he is a potential candidate for sanction under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. We will accordingly sanction him in accordance with the law”