The Member of Parliament for Builsa South has accused the Majority Caucus of condoning Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s constant absence from Parliament when he’s needed to answer questions.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, Dr Clement Apaak said it is offensive for such behaviours to persist in the chamber.
“The Majority side has always made excuses for him. The same Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, even in the days when he wasn’t showing up, where we had cause to complain, …the leadership of the Majority decided to make excuses for him,” he stated.
“So, I am not surprised that Kyei-Mensah Bonsu is again trying to make an excuse for why Ken Ofori-Atta didn’t show up,” he added.
His comments come after the Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei-Mensah Bonsu in an interview on PM Express on Tuesday, explained that the Finance Minister has been busy holding meetings with representatives of the International Monetary Fund who are in the country.
He says the Finance Minister has also been busy holding meetings with World Bank.
The Finance Minister was scheduled to answer some questions in Parliament on June 14, but he failed to show up again.
The questions were on government’s indebtedness and expenditure, funding of Free Senior High School among others.
Reacting to the Minister’s absence, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee, says the Finance Minister has shown gross disrespect to Parliament. This, he says is due to his continuous absence when he is expected to appear before the House.
He added that Mr Ofori–Atta has never shown up before the Public Accounts Committee since 2017.
“When it comes to questions filed by Members of Parliament, I can tell you on authority that of all the Ministers appointed by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government from 2017 till date, if we were to look at the records about their appearance to Parliament to respond to questions by Members of Parliament, I can tell you that Ken Ofori-Atta’s record is very abysmal,” he said.
Dr Apaak said no explanation was given for his latest absence in Parliament.
According to him, a written letter of explanation should have been presented to the Speaker justifying his absence.
He stated that because the aforementioned procedure was not followed, “so as far as we are concerned, it is not because he is locked in some corner dealing with economic matters because we have not been told so. So, the only conclusion we can draw is that he is only up to his old despicable habit of not showing up to answer our questions.”