Ignore baseless claims that our side of the ad-hoc committee took sitting allowances- Ablakwa

The Honorable Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Honorable Okudzeto Ablakwa, has refuted all allegations that the NDC side of the ad-hoc committee of “the Ken Ofori-Atta Vote of Censure” toom sitting allowance. According to him, they did not take any money because they prioritized Ghana first.

Ablakwa disclosed that the NDC side of the committee served the country, pro-bono, meaning free of charge. He made this disclosure after announcing that Parliament will consider the report of the committee that he was talking about.

“Parliament is expected later today to consider the report of the Ken Ofori-Atta Vote of Censure Committee. We anticipate a full-blown debate and the long awaited vote pursuant to Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution.

It’s been a patriotic duty. Ignore baseless claims that our side took sitting allowances; we served pro bono.”

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Parliament will consider the report of the Ken Ofori-Atta Vote of the Censure Committee. As part of the standing orders and practice of Parliament, this report will be debated upon and then, there will be a vote on it.

It will be recalled that after Parliament adopted the motion of censure against the Finance Minister, Parliament constituted an eight-member ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations levelled against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, by the Minority caucus for which they were calling for his removal.

The committee was co-chaired by Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament Member (MP), Kobina Tahir Hammond, and Bolgatanga East MP, Dr. Dominic Ayine, with other members as Okaikoi (MP), Patrick Yaw Boamah, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, Sekondi MP, and Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, Asante Akim Central MP, all of New Patriotic Party (NPP), majority caucus.

The rest were Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, North Tongu MP, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings, Klottey Korle MP, and Bernard Ahiafor, Akatsi South MP, all members of the National Democratic Congress, minority caucus.

After the hearing, the 8-member ad-hoc committee presented its report to Parliament.

The committee probed allegations of unconstitutional withdrawal of funds from the consolidated fund for the National Cathedral project, gross mismanagement of the economy, and financial recklessnesses leading to the collapse of the Ghana Cedi as the basis for a censure motion against the Finance Minister by the Minority in Parliament. There was the exclusion of the conflicts of interest claims and illegal transfer of oil money.

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