All over the world, some of the political appointees, whose removal, dismissal, resignation, or even death, create ripples all over are Finance Ministers.
Ghanaian-born British Member of the House of Commons, Hon. Kwesi Kwarteng, who was appointed by British Prime Minister Liz Truss, and was dismissed just after 38 days in office, created a lot of waves on the international financial scene, not because he was a bad Chancellor but the British people weren’t ready for his economic policy at the time.
Here in Ghana, Ken Ofori Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister from 2017 to 2024, was sacked and there was no reaction from anywhere in the country, the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) was silent as if nothing happened in the industry, no shifting of stocks on the market, there was no reaction in the Banking industry to indicate the Finance Minister was gone, not even a ripple on the Ghanaian ‘Black market’, since there was no agitation in the Bank of Ghana’s Forex.
Internationally, not even the Bond market, where Ken Ofori Atta has become famous for his penchant for borrowing, was even a word heard about his exit, nowhere in the world, on the international money markets, in the UK, in the US and Asia, where he has been and reputed for his excessive borrowing, and that should tell Ghanaians their Yale University Finance Minister had no pedigree and very insignificant.
The silence of his exit is the sign that Ken Ofori Atta, as Finance Minister was very insignificant, his name and his position in the Akufo Addo/NPP Government, did not ring a bell anywhere in the Banking industry, in the financial markets or even among those in the ‘Black market’.
Ken Ofori Atta has exited the Finance Ministry as quietly as he came in. The falsehood, the Yale graduate hype, the keeping up of appearance by the Akufo Addo/Bawumia/NPP administration, “we have the men”, “we have the men”, “what a solid economic team”, and their deeds in Government has exposed them. They had no clue how to manage the Finances of a country, today, Ghana is the biggest debtor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
What Ghanaians should know is that Ken Ofori Atta did not become the Finance Minister because of his knowledge of Finance or his love to serve Ghana nor his desire to help his cousin, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Adoo, the President of the Republic of Ghana but before 2017, the NDC had given him a glimpse of how juicy it was been a Government consultant, by involving him in the NDC Government’s Bond market negotiating team.
Fortunately for him, the NPP and his cousin, Akufo Addo were indebted to his Data Bank to the tune of millions of cedis and had no choice but to appoint him the Finance Minister on assumption of office in January 2017.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way Akufo Addo was going to appoint Ken Ofori Atta the Finance Minister if it wasn’t for the fact that he and the NPP owed Data Bank. The two Have also had a long-standing family feud, started by the actions of their fathers, but Ken had his plans and intentionally kept Akufo Addo very ignorant of the Finances of the country.
With only a few months left before the President exits the office, he is still not well-informed about the Finances of Ghana and if any committee of inquiry should be set up and the President is asked about the Economy of Ghana, he would be found wanting because his Finance Minister only told him what he wants him to know as President, and I bet Akufo Addo doesn’t know how much Ghana owes and who the country’s debtors are.
Ken Ofori Atta used his Christian faith as a camouflage, knowing how Ghanaians revere Christians and regularly quoted the Holy Book during presentations of budgets in Parliament or at state functions and always appeared in clean white cloths to signify his ‘purity’.
So why was this man, so pure in the eyes of Christians, hated so much even his political party colleagues in Parliament wanted him gone, party sympathizers wanted him gone, majority of the NPP supporters in the party’s stronghold, Ashanti Region wanted him out of government,
The Banking industry, the financial markets, the Forex and the Black markets, market women, workers, students, and even pensioners, all want him out and yet nobody even coughed at his exit, why?
It is all because Ken Ofori Atta has messed up every Ghanaian from all walks of life, families and marriages, and relationships between parents and children. He has destroyed businesses and killed thousands of pensioners.
So what is the point of crying over spilled milk? There was no excitement in Ken Ofori Atta’s removal because he’s caused so much damage and pain, no Ghanaian was happy seeing him go and the only person unhappy about his exit was the President who said in an interview, “I did the reshuffle for Ghanaians and not for me”. END
Source – Jojo Bruce Quansah
jojobrucequansah@gmail.com
info@ghananewsnow.co.uk
