Finance Minister must resign over “smelly deal” – Minority

The Minority in Parliament is demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta over alleged conflict of interest.

The opposition MPs claim a close associate of Mr. Ofori Atta was offered a deal to buy more than 90 percent of the country’s $2.25 billion bond. The investor, Trevor Tref-game is also the chairman of the Enterprise Group, a company closely aligned to businesses belonging to the Finance Minister.

The Minority accused Mr. Ofori Atta of conniving with his business partners to have easy access to the bond, in a deal they described as not transparent. MP for Bolgatanga Central and Member of the Minority’s Finance team Isaac Adongo told Starr News the Minister has not been honest.




“Parliament is the only institution that is mandated to check reckless activities such as this with the Executive. Parliament should therefore be interested in this transaction so that we can get to the bottom of this smelly deal. And to be thinking about the fact that within three months we have already accumulated three billion dollars and this are the kinds of fishy deals we are going to experience over the next four years we must nip it in the bud and if Finance the Minister is properly advised will resign his post and save the people of Ghana the shame that he is bringing upon us,” the lawmaker stated.

But a deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, dismissed the allegations, adding that there is no conflict of interest and the minority is only throwing dust into the eyes of the public.

She added: “It was nothing  done in secrecy and  what the minority is seeking to do is to throw dust in the eyes of the public. There is no conflict of interest here and there are more important things to discuss. Ghana has been doing business with these people for more than 10 years now”.