‘I didn’t sit in to listen to Ofori-Atta, I felt it was unprincipled to do so’ – Murtala

Tamale Central Member of Parliament Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has said that he did not sit in the chamber of Parliament to listen to the Finance Minister’s presentation of the 2023 budget statement.

He said he did so from his office.

He stated that it would have been unprincipled to sit in Parliament to listen to Mr Ken Ofori-Atta who is being asked to leave office.

“It was an unprincipled decision to sit in. This is a man who has been called to go by over half of Members of Parliament, he is no longer fit to man the office of the Ministry of Finance.

“As a Minority, we also think the man is no longer fit to be in office so I felt it was not principle for me to sit in. Those who had the courage to sit in said they were disappointed to sit in to listen to him,” Murtala said on the Big Issue on TV3 with Roland Walker on Friday November 25.

The opposition Members of Parliament through their leadership announced in a statement that they would be in Parliament Thursday November 24 for the 2023 budget presentation by the Finance Minister.

This, they said, was without prejudice to the investigation that is being done by the 8-member committee on the Finance Minister following the allegations they made against him.

“While we remain committed to seeing through the process to censure the Finance Minister , we are mindful of our duty to carry out oversight on the Executive and preserve the interest of the Ghanaian people whose livelihoods the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration has severely undermined through mismanagement of the economy,” a statement issued by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said.

This was after the New Patriotic Party lawmakers rescinded their decision to boycott the presentation if Mr Ofori-Atta was going to present it.

The Members of Parliament wanted another person other than Mr Ofori-Atta to do so but after an intervention by the NPP leadership, they have agreed to allow him to present the statement.

The economy has been going through struggles with the local currency performing badly against the major trading currencies especially the Dollar.