Government has justified the re-appointment of former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta as Senior Presidential Advisor and Special Envoy for International Finance and Private Sector Investments.
According to government’s Spokesperson on Governance, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, Ghanaians must focus on the wealth of experience Mr. Ofori-Atta brings on board after serving as Ghana’s longest finance minister.
This follows a public campaign by some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) seeking to have the president revoke the reassignment of the former minister.
Speaking on JoyFM on February 26, Isaac Adongo who is the NDC’s Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee described the new role as needless.
He explained that this might also render the office of the Finance Minister useless, as it will have no influence on the country’s economy or expenditure.
“I have reason to say that what the President has done is technically to give Mohammed Amin one job with the left and take it back with the right. The appointment of Ken Ofori-Atta is akin to having a senior Finance Minister supervising the Finance Minister.
“If you know the way government works, the Finance Minister has to implement major policies through cabinet and through executive approval of the President, and when he is going to Cabinet or he is going to seek approval from the President, the President will consult his Advisor and his Advisor is Ken Ofori-Atta.
“So if Ken does not agree with the policy orientation of the Finance Minister, it is as good as not even starting it because it won’t get cabinet or executive approval,” he said.
But Palgrave Boakye-Danquah insists the re-appointment is necessary.
According to the government Spokesperson on Governance, President Akufo-Addo’s decision will give him room to tap from the rich expertise of the former finance minister.
“I am particularly surprise to think that anyone will think that the role that President Akufo-Addo has created is one that is duplicated in terms of the roles that are assigned to the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State and the two Deputy Ministers.
I think that it is important that as a country as we move forward we focus on people’s unique service and also focus on people’s impact,” he added.
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