Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North Constituency Andy Appiah Kubi, who led members of the Majority Caucus of Parliament to demand the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister has welcomed the decision of president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to relieve the former minister of his role.
President Akufo-Addo, yesterday, announced a major shakeup in his government since he took over power 7 years ago.
This follows years of public pressure on the president to reshuffle his appointees as many believe most of them have underperformed.
The demand for a reshuffle reached a crescendo during the peak of the economic crisis when Members of Parliament from the governing New Patriotic Party publicly called on the president to relieve the Finance Minister of his duties.
Andy Appiah Kubi led that group of MPs infamously termed the Rebel NPP MPs and addressed a press conference, demanding the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta.
Although there were reports that he had agreed to let the then Finance Minister go after when the country finally struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he failed to do so.
But just months to the end of his tenure, he has announced a major reshuffle of the government.
As many as 9 ministers including Ken Ofori-Atta and 10 deputies have been relieved of their duties and new faces have been nominated to replace them.
Reacting to the development, the MP for Akyem North Constituency applauded the president for heeding to their call.
He said although the move has come a little late, it is better late than never.
“We thank God, we thank the president for listening to the cry of the majority of Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus.
We wanted it nearly 2 years ago but as the saying goes it’s better late than never,” she stated in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM.
“It would have been better if he had been responded to us at the time we asked but he gave us also reasons he thought it was not appropriate to do it at the time. So we give him the benefit of his befitting and now, he has listened to us after this long wait”.
He urged the new appointees to live up expectations in order to make a significant difference.
“Those people stepping into these shoes should do better to bring glory to the president and our government”.
