Though he did not categorically disclose what things he wants to see, he indicated it is always his prayer to have a long life.

The prayer he said was based on a story a senior statesman told him years ago.

Mr Bagbin made the closure in his closing remarks after the Minority in Parliament’s censure motion vote to oust Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta lost.

“One of the Senior statesmen, I actually refer to him as an elder statesman told me a story that when they were in school, a gentleman used to visit them and while walking on the streets he would be repeating one statement and I quote ‘if we don’t die early we will see things.’

“I have been praying to God to allow me not to die early so that I can see things. I am not yet old but I have started seeing things,” he said.

After a heated debate on a censure motion against the embattled Finance Minister, Speaker Bagbin declared for a vote to be cast.

A total of 136 National Democratic Congress MPs voted on Thursday to demand the removal of Mr Ofori-Atta falling short of the two-thirds constitutional requirement for the motion to pass through.

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Prior to the vote, the New Patriotic Party MPs staged a walkout and decided not to support the motion of their colleagues from the opposition side of the House.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Mensah, who led the walkout said his side cannot be part of a process that was baseless and politically motivated.

The Leader, addressing the Speaker, said the censure motion by the Minority Caucus was pushed out of bad faith and only sought to embarrass the Finance Minister.

He disclosed this on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, December 8, 2022, during a debate on the censure motion.

But Bolgatanga West MP, Dr Dominic Ayine, who was also a co-chair of the committee stated otherwise.

He argued that they had “unassailable evidence” but were compelled to build consensus on the motion.

Contributing to the debate, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin,accused the Minority of acting in bad faith.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin in his opening remarks said, “Honourable Members, both the Constitution and the Standing Orders require that the Minister against whom a vote of censure motion is moved is entitled to be heard in defence.”

To him, the committee has vindicated his decision and allayed the fears of a section of Ghanaians.

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“The information I have shared with you and the public leaves me in no doubt whatsoever that the procedure adopted by the referral of the matter to the ad-hoc committee for inquiry is well rooted in law. I am convinced that the public hearing conducted by the committee has vindicated my decision and allayed the fears of all those who had thought otherwise.

“Fortified by this conviction, I rule that the referral of the motion to pass a resolution on a vote of censure on the Minister of Finance to an ad-hoc committee for inquiry is proper and in accordance with the law,” he said.

He said the Minority Caucus is determined to vote Ken Ofori-Atta out of office.

“I can assure you some people [Members of Parliament] are on their way back, others are in the US. They are on their way back, others are in their constituencies. Everybody is on his way back.

“I can assure you that we are keeping our cards close to our chest and we believe that by the Grace of God, by the time we are done with the secret balloting, Finance Minister will be out,” he said.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, Wednesday, Mr Mubarak said the House followed the necessary procedures to conduct the censure motion, thus, establishing a committee based on Article 82 to provide a fair hearing after which findings are presented to the House to be debated and subsequently voted on.

“Based on Article 82 (4) that says that he must be heard, so he has been heard in the committee. So they would just come and tell us that, this is what he said and the debate continues and then conclude the debate and then we vote.

“So that is going to happen tomorrow because that is what leadership has agreed this morning on conclave that tomorrow after vote and proceedings that will be the major business and then try and conclude the censure motion,” he added.

In a related development, a member of the Ad hoc Committee set up by Parliament to hear the censure motion, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has confirmed to JoyNews in an interview on Wednesday that the fate of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta will be decided tomorrow (Thursday) after a vote on the censure motion.

“I can confirm that we now have the all-clear from the Rt. Hon. Speaker, the leadership of the House that tomorrow (Thursday) the report will be presented and the debate will continue pursuant to Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution. 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.

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

Ahead of the debate and vote on the motion, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, 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.

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.

The eight-member Ad-hoc Committee, set up by Parliament to probe the Minority censure motion against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has laid its report before the House.

It comes a week after the committee concluded its work.

The Committee was given a seven-day mandate to present their finding for it to be debated in the House.

Speaking to JoyNews after the presentation, Member of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, expressed disappointment about the slow pace in dealing with the committee’s report and taking a final decision on the Finance Minister.

“I was unhappy about the laissez-faire attitude …the heart of this issue is that Article 82 has been triggered. It says that during the debate, the Minister facing a vote of censure must be heard and that has been done. I thought that in the Business Statement for next week it would have been programmed specifically and clearly so that we will have a day set aside for the debate,” he said.

According to him, the more time given to the Finance Minister to stay in office brings about further hardships.

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“We have to get on with the assignment, let us complete it, let us table this to have the vote for Ghanaians to know where their MPs stand,” he said.

“I hope that we meet the two-thirds threshold if only our colleagues on the other side will just show some principles and consistency…,” he said.

“To the extent that he doesn’t want to resign and the President does not want to dismiss him, the onus is on us MPs and I do hope that my colleagues will value public opinion, will respect the will of the people and will remember that it is the Ghanaian people who elected us and brought us here, and we must at all times reflect what they expect,” Mr Ablakwa added.

According to him, the claim has no substance.

“I do not know the betrayal that he is talking about because, in the first place, we never promised you that we were going to support your motion of censure. We never said that we were going to vote to support you to get the Finance Minister out, so we never betrayed them…any motion of censure we are not going to be part of it,” Mr Iddrisu said.

He added that the motion is “ill-intended” and the NDC Caucus is alone in terms of the censure motion against Mr Ofori-Atta.

The Majority MPs had earlier threatened not to partake in the presentation of the 2023 Budget if Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is not dismissed.

However, barely 24 hours before the presentation of the 2023 Budget the national executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held a meeting with the NPP MPs and asked them to rescind their decision.

The leadership of the party appealed to the MPs to allow the Minister to present the budget.

Following this development, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, on the floor of Parliament after the Budget has been presented on Thursday, accused the Majority MPs of betraying the NDC Caucus.

“We feel let down and we feel betrayed by the Majority Caucus who have shown no wit in supporting us with our impeachment process within the letter and spirit of Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution. We are not abandoning our censure motion.”

But the Second Deputy Majority Whip, Mr Iddrisu, in an interview on Top Story, Friday, said they will not support the Minority’s motion of censure.

Meanwhile, the eight-member Ad-hoc Committee set up by Parliament to probe the Minority censure motion against the Finance Minister has laid its report before the House.

It comes a week after the Committee concluded its work.

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Speaking to JoyNews after the presentation, Member of the Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa expressed disappointment about the slow pace in dealing with the Committee’s report and taking a final decision on the Finance Minister.

“I was unhappy about the laissez-faire attitude …the heart of this issue is that Article 82 has been triggered. It says that during the debate, the Minister facing a vote of censure must be heard and that has been done. I thought that in the Business Statement for next week it would have been programmed specifically and clearly so that we will have a day set aside for the debate,” he said.

Speaking to JoyNews shortly after Ken Ofori-Atta had completed taking the ‘witness box’ before the Adhoc Committee hearing the censure motion, the Deputy Energy Minister said Mr Ofori-Atta, through his responses, has exonerated himself from all allegations levelled for his removal from office.

According to him, he is satisfied with the responses from the Minister who testified before the Committee on Friday.

“If you look at the motion that was tabled and the so-called grounds that were canvassed, clearly the Finance Minister discharged himself creditably.

“He demonstrated to the people of Ghana what he’s done, the accusations that have been levelled against him, clearly unfounded. So, I am especially, satisfied with the delivery of the Finance Minister before the Committee today.

“When we go to the floor and the debate is concluded, I will definitely support the Finance Minister and oppose the motion for his removal without a doubt at all. On the allegations that were levelled, I do not think the Finance Minister should be removed from office,” he told JoyNews’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Kwaku Asante.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has apologised to Ghanaians for the hardship being suffered in recent times.

Appearing before the Committee hearing the censure motion, he said the brunt borne by the populace due to the ongoing economic turmoil is unfortunate.

“Let me use this opportunity to say to the Ghanaian people what I believe, with courage, every Finance Minister around the world may wish to say to their people now. I am truly sorry,” he told the Committee.

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Mr Ofori-Atta further dismissed the allegations of mismanaging the economy mounted by the Minority in Parliament.

“I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.

“Hon Co-Chairs, the ground of recklessness presupposes that I have not been guided by the laid-down regulations.

“I want to state that I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government,” he told the Adhoc Committee on Friday.

Ken Ofori-Atta made the remarks when he appeared before the Committee to give his testimony. 

The Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee on Censure was set up by the Speaker to probe the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Caucus’ Motion calling for a vote of censure against the Finance Minister for mismanagement of Ghana’s economy. 

The Committee’s decision was announced by Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, the Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee on Censure, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East. 

Dr Ayine recalled that on Tuesday, November 15, during the Committee’s sitting, the Finance Minister, who appeared as a person of interest with his counsel, Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, had raised objection to Ground One of the Motion. 

Ground One cites a despicable conflict of interest that he (Mr Ofori-Atta) directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang. 

The Co-Chairman said the counsel raised constitutional issues concerning the grounds of conflict of interest in the Parliamentary Motion of Censure of his client. 

Counsel noted that the Constitution had empowered the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to deal with the conflict of interest and that it did not lie in the purview of Parliament to deal with the issue. 

Dr Ayine noted that Counsel, in his submission, cited a case where his client was taken to court over the issue of conflict of interest and that the matter travelled all the way to the Supreme Court and judgement was given in his client’s favour. 

The Committee had reached a decision that Mr Ofori-Atta would be exempted from answering Ground One as it would give a written ruling on it, he said. 

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Touching on Ground Three on the “alleged illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution”, Dr Ayine said both the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) appeared before the Committee on Thursday, November 17, to give their sides of the story. 

He said after hearing from both organisations, the Committee had decided to exempt the Finance Minister from answering that question. 

Political Scientist, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has expressed dissatisfaction with the Minority over the probe of its censure motion against Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The Associate Professor at the University of Ghana (Legon) has indicated the Minority caucus has been uninspiring.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, Professor Gyampo said the caucus raised the hope of Ghanaians with its Censure Motion against the embattled Minister.

He stated he has closely monitored the process and from the response of Mr Ofori-Atta, some of the issues were mere hard truths.

“The Minority has been uninspiring because the things to say to censure a minister are not like a rally talk which will not be subject to scrutiny. The kind of things they said to raise hope of Ghanaians about the Minister’s sack was quite interesting. But the Minister’s interaction with the committee shows their issues were mere hard truths,” he said.

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To him, the posture of the Minority is becoming one too many and it appears “we have a Minority that tends to give the public high expectations about them.

“The Minority should advise themselves because when it matters, they are not able to actively combat to satisfy those high expectations.”

Mr Ofori -Atta is facing an ad-hoc committee following a motion of censure from the Minority.

He has been accused of gross mismanagement of the economy, and conflict of interest among others.

But addressing the Adhoc Committee on Friday, Mr Ofori-Atta said his efforts despite the global pressures on the economy have been to protect the public purse.

Play the audio above:

The proponents’ allegations do not have “weight for censure”, Mr Ofori-Atta said when he appeared before the Ad hoc Committee of Parliament probing the motion.

Mr Ofori-Atta denied the allegations that his recklessness has contributed to the economic challenges facing the economy.

He said the claim was false as he had complied with every laid down regulation in the exercise of his role as Minister of Finance.

Instead, he said it was the action of the Minority in Parliament in 2021 that created chaos, leading to mistrust and subsequent withdrawals by investors.

He told the Ad hoc Committee of Parliament hearing the censure motion brought against him that “I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.”

He was responding to a claim by the Minority in Parliament, which alleged in its censure motion against the minister that fiscal recklessness by Mr Ofori-Atta has led to the crash of the Ghana Cedi.

“Hon Co-Chairs, the ground of recklessness presupposes that I have not been guided by the laid-down regulations.

“I want to state that I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.

“Rather, our strenuous efforts to protect the public purse is what has helped this government to have achieved much, much more than any government over a similar period in virtually all sectors, including education, health, social welfare, policing, security in general, roads, railways, agriculture, industrialisation, tourism, digitization, and funding for anti-corruption institutions,” he said.

He said every action of his was first discussed with Parliament and approval granted before implementation.

“On all those occasions, I received approval as Parliament subsequently passed Appropriations Bills for all those Budgets.

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“Every key expenditure made has been supported by this House.

“Indeed, we all saw the dire consequences when the House, for months, refused to pass a major revenue generation item introduced by this government to support the fiscal stability of the economy.

“Sadly, the Minority Leader, when this government was compelled to approach the Fund this year, triumphantly took credit for frustrating government’s efforts to meet its half-year revenue targets,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

According to him, their refusal to do so could possibly lead the country into a constitutional crisis which could further exacerbate the economic crisis the country is going through.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is currently facing a vote of censure motion filed against him by the Minority side in Parliament over accusations of corruption and gross incompetence.

The Speaker of Parliament has constituted an eight-member committee to probe the accusations levelled against the Minister and provide a detailed report within seven days.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Prof. Agyeman-Duah noted that should the ongoing stalemate happening in Ghana’s Parliament over the vote of censure continue, it may negatively affect the country’s financial relations with the outside world.

“Well, my hope is that we will not get there. What I expect to happen in the coming days or weeks is perhaps the Finance Minister taking himself out of this dilemma, or the President just announcing that he’s displacing the Finance Minister because it will just be tragic for these two individuals to lead the country into such a constitutional jam. We don’t want that.

“We all know the difficulties we face, and in fact what we’re not even thinking about is the very negative impact of this crisis or this stalemate I should say on our international partners and our financial relations with the outside world. Somewhere else our market would have plummeted further.

“So in fact we are doing ourselves a lot of ill if in fact the President and the Finance Minister continue to be intransigent on this matter and not to appropriately respond to the ground swell of public demand for the displacement of the Finance Minister,” he said.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah who has described the formation of the eight-member committee as a face-saving measure by the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to pacify both factions of the House, says the entire hearing process is unnecessary.

According to him, no matter the path taken, it will still end with the Finance Minister getting censured.

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“I think we’ve come to a point where this matter should be resolved. It’s not necessary to go through this whole process.

“And I do agree with Amoako Baah and the others that look, this matter should have been settled right on the floor of Parliament. All this process of committee and… I don’t think it’s necessary. We are prolonging something that is inevitable,” he said.

This comes after the suspension of proceedings for a day. 

North Tongu MP and committee member, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced this in a social media post.

The lawmaker revealed officials of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) are expected to appear before it. 

The eight-member Committee began its work on Tuesday, with proponents; Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and Ajumako-Essiam MP, Cassiel Ato Forson adducing evidence for their motion. 

Mr Ofori-Atta on the first day appeared before the committee with NPP stalwart Gabby Otchere-Darko as his lawyer.

However, ‘chaos’ characterised the process which was expected to run smoothly with heated exchanges between Mr Ablakwa and Mr Otchere-Darko.

The exchanges resulted when the lawmaker asked a question about the controversial National Cathedral which did not sit well with the counsel.

He accused the lawmaker of taking advantage of the hearing to run a political agenda, stating Mr Ablakwa could organise a press conference to make those political statements.

However, Mr Ablakwa objected to Mr Otchere-Darko’s comments, arguing he cannot teach the Committee how to do its work. 

“You cannot come here and throw your weight about. You will not teach me how to do my work. You are not the chairman of this Committee,” he fumed.

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In a sarcastic reply, Mr Otchere-Darko said he does not have enough weight to throw about, “I am only 78 kilos.”

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Member of the eight-Member Adhoc Committee, has engaged in a heated argument with Gabby Otchere-Darko who appeared on Tuesday as the lawyer for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

This emanated from a comment Mr Otchere-Darko made, asking the Minority to stop springing surprises.

He described questions from the North Tongu MP as political, stating he should organise a press meeting to say those things but not advantageously use the Committee sitting to do his own thing.

This did not sit well with the lawmaker who told Mr Otchere-Darko that he cannot come to Parliament and throw his weight about. This made tempers to go high but this time, the Co-Chairman and Adansi-Asokwa MP, KT Hammond came in to stop the brawl.

Mr Otchere-Darko subsequently questioned the judicial jurisdiction of the Committee on the issues raised by the Minority and demanded that they furnish his client, Mr Ofori-Atta with all the documents they intend to rely on during the investigation.

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He believes it will be in the interest of fairness and justice for the minister to adequately respond to each of the seven issues against him.

Audio attached above: