The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that he is more focused on serving the people of Ghana.
He said though he was a little fazed by the motion of censure for his dismissal by lawmakers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), he stayed on the job for the love of the country.
Speaking in an interview on GTV, Mr. Ofori-Atta said it was a duty for me to see through Ghana’s bailout plan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“In the period of censure, in which Parliament then voted against it, but more importantly, you were in a situation where you were battered and broken. [But] you do not leave a ship at that time. And given the urgency of ensuring the IMF programme goes through, for me, it was a duty to serve, and there was no running away from it,” the Finance Minister said.
In 2022, the Finance Minister faced criticism as some New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators called for his ousting, attributing the nation’s economic challenges to him.
The National Democratic Congress also lodged a censure motion for his removal, citing factors like gross incompetence and conflict of interest.
Relatedly, in his mid-year budget to Parliament, Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed that the One District, One Factory policy has created over 160,000 jobs for Ghanaians.
He said as of June 2023, a total of 126 factories were operational in 58 districts across the country adding that job creations targeted the teeming unemployed youth in the country.
Ofori-Atta said “Mr. Speaker, in line with the government’s unwavering commitment to industrialisation, the implementation of the flagship One District, One Factory (1D1F) Initiative is on course. As of June 2023, 126 factories were operational nationwide. Over 160,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created, especially for the youth who have been mobilised to establish agro-processing factories in 58 districts.”
The 1D1F program is a private sector-led initiative that seeks to create the necessary conducive environment for businesses to access funding from financial institutions and other support services from government agencies, to establish factories and production units in the various districts in the country.
