Minister for Finance Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has stated that he needed to stay at post to help fix the economy despite calls for his resignation from within his own governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to him, he stayed on because he did not believe in abandoning ship in choppy seas.
In the heady days of the economic downturn as a result of some external factors including COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine, about 100 NPP MPs openly called for Mr Ofori-Atta’s resignation for supposedly failing to steer the economy to success.
However, President Nana Akufo-Addo intervened and urged the lawmakers to allow the Finance Minister to complete negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $3 billion balance of payment support.
Despite the completion of the process, the Minister for Finance remains at post.
In an interview with national broadcaster GTV last Sunday, Mr Ofori-Atta said confessed that even though he got battered and broken by the pressure brought to bear on him, he had to stay on to fix the problem.
“In the period of censure, in which parliament then voted against it, but more importantly, you were in a situation where you were battered and broken.
“And, [you] do not leave a ship at that time, and given the urgency of ensuring the IMF programme will get through, for me it was a duty to serve, and there was no running away from it”, Mr Ofori-Atta stressed.
