Deputy Director of Communications for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ernest Owusu-Bempah has said the Finance Minister performed well when he appeared before the 8-member committee that was investigating the allegations made against him by the Minority, on Friday November 18.

In the view of Mr Owusu-Bempah, the Finance Minister answered all the issues raised against him very well with documented facts and evidence.

He stated that the proponents of the motion to get the Finance Minister removed from office, including the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu and ranking member on the Finance Committee Cassiel Ato Forson, exhibited gross incompetence in their submissions to extent that two of their main allegations against Mr Ofori-Atta were thrown out by the committee in the midst of the hearing.

“The NDC are full of propaganda and lies and this was exhibited in parliament when they put up the vote of censure against the Finance Minister, that is their character.

“They exhibited gross incompetence. Is this the alternative they want to give? If Ghanaians want to know the character of the NDC, they should go back and look at the allegations they made, it tells you they are hollow,”Mr Owusu-Bempah said in a write up.

During its sitting, the committee two out of the seven charges against him.

This was after the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) which was called upon by the committee to testify on Thursday did not say that the Finance Minister authorized  payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts.

During proceedings Co-chair of the committee Dr Dominic Ayine said “…They also did not say anything to the effect that you gave the instructions with respect to that payment. On account of the evidence adduced which kind of contradicted  the evidence that was led by the proponent of the motion, the committee has taken the view that you will not be called to deal with this matter.”

He added “…So in essence, there are now five grounds that you will have to deal with. Those are grounds 2, that is the unconstitutional withdrawals in relation to the national cathedral, then we have ground 5, 6 and 7 to deal with.”

Mr Ofori-Atta appeared before the committee on Friday November 18 to answer the charges against him.

In his initial submission, he told the committee that “I am certain Ghanaians will have amore balance view of what has led us here.”

Mr Ofori-Atta further told the committee that he does not believe that the allegations made by the Minority in Parliament for his removal from have any weight behind them.

He said that the proponents’ allegations do not have “weight for censure.”

Mr Ofori-Atta said each of the allegations leveled against him were false and went on to debunk each of them.

On the allegation of deliberate misreporting of economic data to Parliament, he said it is completely not true.

“Since I took office in 2017, I have served the country with integrity and honesty.
“Under my leadership at the Ministry of Finance, there have been significant improvements in the accurate reporting of public finances.

“Today, under President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians are enjoying greater accountability and transparency in the management of the public purse than any other period under the Fourth Republic.”

By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana