- “The shock to our system has been hard and the impact on our livelihoods severe … but we continue to work …”
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, says he is truly sorry for the current economic challenges that the country is going through and that the government is working to resolve these.
Responding to grounds for censure by some Minority MPs in Parliament, Ofori-Atta said, “Since the Akufo-Addo government came to office, everything we have sought to do was to make the lives of the people better.
“We have been focused on this vision to improve lives and in the first four years our efforts were leading to the realisation of the vision.
“Today, I acknowledge our economy is facing difficulties and the people of Ghana are enduring hardships. As a person President Akufo-Addo has put in charge of this economy, I feel the pain personally, professionally and in my soul.”
He added, “I see and feel the terrible impact of rising prices of goods and services on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Ghanaians. I feel the stress of running a business, but it is the strength and perseverance of the Ghanaian people that inspire me and my colleagues in government every morning to press on.
Profile in courage
“That is what gives me the strength to press on to find solutions and relief for Ghanaians to the myriad problems that our country and the rest of the world are going through, especially since March 2020.
“Co-chairs, let me use this opportunity to say to the Ghanaian people what I believe with courage every finance minister around the world may want to say to their people now: I am truly sorry.”
He said the government will continue to work to achieve economic growth for the country.
“When we set out so purposefully between 2017 and the early part of 2020, we never imagined that a global pandemic such as COVID, with its prolonged economic fallout, would inflict such pain and suffering on the Ghanaian people,” the minister said.
He added, “The shock to our system has been hard and the impact on our livelihoods severe … but we continue to work …”
Click on the link below to read the statement of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to Parliament’s ad hoc committee:
Vote of Censure Paper by the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta
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