Debate on censure motion against Ofori-Atta begins today

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The green light has been given by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to decide the fate of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Thursday.

Members of the House will have the opportunity to debate the report of the eight-member Ad-hoc Committee on the censure motion.

A member of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, confirmed this to JoyNews in an interview on Wednesday.

“I can confirm that we now have the all clear from the Rt. Hon. Speaker, the leadership of the House that Thursday) the report will be presented and the debate will continue pursuant to Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution and it is also very likely that at the end of the debate, the Speaker will put the question and we will have the vote on the censure motion,” he said.

The North Tongu MP said he is hoping the NPP MPs will join them in removing Mr Ken Ofori-Atta from office.

“Our three-line whip remains in force. All of us on the Minority side will be voting against the Finance Minister. We expect our colleagues on the other side to stop the flip-flopping and the constant u-turning and align with us in the national interest.”

It would be recalled that the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, on Thursday, November 10 issued a three-line whip for Ken Ofori-Atta’s dismissal.

A three-line whip is an instruction given to Members of Parliament by their leader telling them they must vote in a particular way.

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, has said there will be dire consequences for Members of the Minority Caucus who defy the three-line whip issued by the Party’s leadership in Parliament.

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“I mean the consequences are very dire because before your Whip issues a three-line whip, it has been discussed at all levels and agreed and then he or she as Whip is given the full mandate. And then you heard my leader on your own network, he said he had not only authorized three, but he has even authorized nine.

“So I have the three and I have the full backing of our establishment. So if you are a member of my caucus and you defy me, what it means is that you’re virtually defying the whole establishment,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.