The head of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manifesto sub-Committee on the Economy, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, has refuted assertions that the flagbearer of the party, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, should be blamed for Ghana’s economic woes because he is the chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT) of the country.
Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM on Wednesday, September 24, 2024, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah, a former chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, indicated that the EMT has no power whatsoever to influence the country’s economic policy.
He said that the EMT is not constitutional; likening it to the harvest committee of a church.
“The Economic Management Team is just like the harvest committee in a church. After the harvest, your work is done. It is just like a harvest committee in the church, it has no power, it is not in the Constitution.
“It is not in the Constitution and so a president may come and say, s/he does not want it. Bawumia himself can become president and say he does not want the Economic Management Team. It is nowhere in the Constitution. Is it every church that has a harvest committee? In some churches, it is the pastor who does the harvest, it does not go to any harvest committee,” he said in a video clip of the interview shared on X.
Dr. Assibey-Yeboah, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the New Juaben Constituency, indicated that sub-committees of cabinet are even more powerful than the EMT.
He pointed out that unlike the EMT, sub-committees of cabinet can issue memos to parliament on issues that the country has to address.
“That is why some have been saying that cabinet sub-committees are more powerful than the Economic Management Team, it has no power. They just have discussions; they don’t even have a forum. Anything that comes before parliament must have a cabinet memo, which is what is used to get executive approval. There is nothing like an EMT memo, parliament would not even recognise it... It (an EMT memo) cannot even be generated.”
Watch the video clip below:
Economic management team is not in the constitution, has no power and authority to implement anything- DR.MARK ASSIBEY-YEBOAH
— Asempa 94.7FM (@Asempa947_FM) September 25, 2024
Chairman, NPP Manifesto Sub-Committee on the Economy#EKOSIISEN
Dr. Paul Yaw Opoku-Mensah Twene Jonas Peace Council Malik Basintale pic.twitter.com/O7R5OAXKwr
BAI/ ADG
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