When Ken Ofori-Atta appeared before Parliament's ad-hoc committee hearing the censure motion filed by the Minority MPs, a number of ministers and MPs accompanied him to show their solidarity.

Seated to his left-hand side was a woman who appeared to be giving the minister the needed support to answer questions posed by members of the committee.

This woman, Eva Esselba Mends, happens to be an economist and coordinating director of the Ministry of Finance. She was the first Ghanaian female to be appointed director of budget at the ministry.

She joined the Ministry of Finance, as a National Service Person in 1991 and in the past 28 years has risen through the ranks from Assistant Economic Officer to Chief Economic Officer.

Positions she has held include; Head of The Americas Desk in 1998, Head of Budget Development in 2006 and Group Head of Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms in 2013.

As Head of the Americas Desk, she led the Technical team for the qualification of Ghana for the First Millennium Challenge Account. She was also part of the Technical team that developed and managed the Multi-Donor budget support programme.

As Head of Budget Development, she facilitated the establishment of the Fiscal Decentralization and Budget Reforms Unit of the Ministry. She led the implementation of major reforms that include gender-responsive budgeting, Programme Based Budgeting and lately the development of the new Public Financial Management Act.

Madam Esselba Mends served as the first female Director of Budget from May, 2017 to January, 2019 and is currently the Coordinating Director (Technical) for the Ministry of Finance.

She believes in constant improvement and loves leading change.

Education

Eva Esselba Mends is an alumnus of the University of Ghana, Legon, where she studied Political Science with Economics.

She has an Executive Masters in Public Administration from GIMPA and has undertaken numerous courses over the years including at Harvard and Duke Universities.

She is a PFM expert and has extensive experience in Economic and Public Policy Formulation and Analysis, Budget Management, Aid Management, Fiscal Decentralization and Social Protection.

Censure Motion

The minority moved a censure motion to get the Finance minister out of office on the following grounds

-Despicable conflict of interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.

-Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 -Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral:

-Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution:

-Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament 5. Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world:

-Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis;

-Gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.

-Gorunds one and three were expunged by the committee when after their hearing. The eight-member committee is expected to present their report to the plenary today, November 22.

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