Accra, January 5, 2017//-Severe pressure is mounting on Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta to resign for breaching the country’s key public financial management law.
Mr Ofori-Atta who is a cousin to the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Akufo breached sections of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) in the issuance of the 2.25 billion dollar bond, last year.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) its five month investigation found Mr Ofori-Atta culpable of breaching sections of the PFMA in the issuance of the bond.
But CHRAJ, didn’t find concrete evidence of conflict of interest against the Minister who was dragged to CHRAJ by a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Brogya Genfi in April 2017.
He petitioned the Commission to investigate Mr Ofori-Atta for conflict of interest in the issuance of 5-year, 7-year, 10-year and 15-year bonds, totaling over the US$2.25 billion.
The petition follows concerns raised by the Minority NDC Members of Parliament (MPs) over what they term as “conflict of interest” in the deal, which was vigorously denied by the government.
They alleged that the Finance Minister secured 95 percent of the bond for family and friends.
Brogya Genfi, in his petition, sided with this position, insisted that Mr. Ofori Atta “has attempted to promote a private or personal interest for himself or for some family members and business associates, and the promotion of the private interest has resulted in, or was intended to result in, or appears to have resulted in, or has the potential to result in an interference with the objective exercise of his duties and an improper benefit or an advantage by virtue of his position”.
The Minority in Parliament also petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the US, over the US$2.25 billion bond issue, 95% of which was purchased by Franklin Templeton, a US registered firm.
But stock market analysts maintained that bond attracted the highest interest rate than all the bonds issued in 2017. This further deepens the suspicion.
Commenting on the matter, an economist Dr. Lord Mensah added his voice to the call on the country’s finance minister to resign.
“But then and therefore if I were to be a minister, I would have done the honorable thing by resigning” he told Citi FM, an Accra-based radio station.
“If you know very well that concentrating on the bond and it has caused the nation in terms of interest rate that is being paid unnecessarily; at a point when interest rate can even get to a level of nine percent and they are still paying 19 percent then it is a cost to the nation,” he said.
Dr Mensah argued: “As a finance minister and a manager of the economy’s purse, you understand very well the ideal thing to do. Sorting for finance should diversify the sources. More or less that will trigger the pricing of the fund in terms of interest that is supposed to be paid on them”.
Impeccable sources within opposition NDC camp have revealed that the party and its MPs as well as some civil society organisations will soon embark on demonstrations across the country to compel the finance minister to vacate his post.
African Eye Report
