NPP MPs agree to support Ken Ofori-Atta to present 2023 budget

Members of Parliament from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have changed their minds about not listening to Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta talk about the 2023 budget.

This happened after the lawmakers met with the NPP’s leaders and the Council of Elders on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.

In a statement signed by Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip, and Justin Kodua Frimpong, the General Secretary of the NPP, it said, “All have agreed to refocus and recline to the earlier position asked for by President Akufo-Addo.”

“That is, the demand to get rid of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta from his job should be put on hold until the end of the round of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would affect the budget for 2023.”

The NPP MPs had earlier said they would not attend Ken Ofori Atta’s budget presentation.

Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, a spokesman for the NPP MPs, said that they won’t take part in the 2023 budget hearing or vote until the Finance minister is fired.

On Thursday, November 24, 2022, Ofori-Atta, who is in trouble, is expected to tell Parliament about the government’s economic plan and budget for 2023.

The 2023 budget will show how much the government will spend and make that year.

People have been worried about the delay in its presentation because the government is trying to get $3 billion in help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Meanwhile, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, the former MP for the New Juaben South constituency in the Eastern Region for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said that getting rid of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta would be “suicidal.”

He has asked the lawmakers to support the government’s 2023 budget statement and economic policy, discuss it, and then vote on it.

In an interview with Accra’s Oman FM, he said, “It would be suicidal to remove the minister at this important time.”

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