A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa West, Alexander Abban, has chastised the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah for describing Mr. Ofori-Atta as a “lame-duck”.
According to him, making such a statement in reference to Mr. Ofori-Atta was condemnable.
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah earlier this week disclosed that the NDC deliberately agreed to have its Members of Parliament approve Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister after the latter’s vetting.
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah was of the view that Ofori-Atta’s second term as Finance Minister would be advantageous to the NDC’s election 2024 chances.
“The party even held several meetings and concluded that we shouldn’t split hairs about Ofori-Atta’s approval. We believe that he is a lame-duck Minister at this stage. So if the government wants a lame-duck Minister, they should have him. His work will make it easier for us to win the election, so we should let him go. That was the party’s position that was communicated,” he said.
But the former legislator speaking on the Citi TV/FM’s weekend current affairs show, The Big Issue on Saturday, April 3, 2021, said such comments should be condemned by all.
According to him, the utmost interest of the country should the underlying factor for all political actors and not partisan considerations.
“…Let me start with the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah. He says that the party at the central level met with the Minority Caucus and took a decision to pass the Finance Minister then and their reason for passing him according to him because he was messing up and that the continued messing up of him will benefit their political party in the 2024 elections and to the extent of describing him [Ofori-Atta] as a lame duck and that’s a shame.”
“So it is their wish that the economy will be in shambles, so that becomes their message for 2024. So the interest of the NDC is not about Ghana but their party and for this to come from a General Secretary of the main opposition party in the country, God save Ghana,” Alexander Abban remarked.