Ken Ofori-Atta Must Step Down Or Else . . . - John Jinapor

NDC Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor has asked President Nana Akufo-Addo to suspend Finance Minister with immediate effect.

John Jinapor called for an immediate action to be taken against the Finance Minister following accusations by the Minority in Parliament that Mr. Ofori-Atta has flouted rules and guidelines of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and also engaged in several contraventions regarding the $2.25 billion bond issued by the government in 2017.

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) investigated the issuance of the bond following allegations of conflict of interest against Mr. Ofori-Atta by the Minority.

The Commission cleared the Finance Minister of any wrongdoing but the Minority, after perusing the report, maintains that there are legitimate concerns over the appropriateness of the issuance of bond involving Mr. Ofori-Atta.

“The issuance calendar for the first-quarter did not include the issuance of seven-year and 15-year bonds, the trading of which concluded on 31 March 2017, which is within the first-quarter period and not the second-quarter calendar.

“On receipt of the second-quarter issuance calendar at 12:31 PM on 30 March 2017, the Bank of Ghana made an announcement to the public on the re-opening of five-year and 10-year bonds with an indication that this must be submitted electronically through the auction model not later than 3PM on Thursday, March 30, 2017 and settlements will be on Monday, April 3, 2017. Again, CHRAJ notes [that] this contradicts the Bank of Ghana's own rules requiring the Bank of Ghana to announce periodically but not less than a week before auction, the amounts and specific details of the financial instruments available in the case the five-year, seven-year, 15-year bonds at the next auction and their maturity profiles”, the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu stated at a press conference on Wednesday, January 31.

Speaking to sit-in host Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Mr. Jinapor who's also a former Deputy Power Minister believed the Minister has some questions to answer on the issue and so, it behoves him to proceed on leave for investigations.

“We must sanction the Finance Minister. We have to suspend him. We must ensure he steps down . . . The long and short of it is that the Finance Minister must humbly step down”.

He was insistent that whether Mr. Ofori-Atta likes or not, he surely must "go on leave…because as it stands now, the confidence level has reduced in all of us. We don’t have that much confidence in the Finance Minister as it stands based on this CHRAJ ruling”.