'What kind of person quotes the Bible yet hurls insults in a 'kasantwi' budget' – Mona Quartey to Ofori-Atta

The 2020 budget statement presented before Parliament by Ghana's Bible-chomping Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was full of innuendoes and veiled insults targeted at the leadership of the erstwhile Mahama administration, a former Deputy Minister of Finance Mrs. Mona Quartey has said.

She wondered how Mr Ofori-Atta could, with one tongue, copiously quote The Scriptures during his presentation of the budget on Wednesday, 13 November 2019 while at the same time use the same tongue to hurl insults at the former administration.

Responding to a comment by Mr Ofori-Atta: "If you add the cost of cleaning the financial sector challenges in addition to the long list of legacy bills that the Akufo-Addo government had to settle, the cost to the Ghanaian taxpayer is around GHS33 billion", Mrs Mona Quartey, who was a member of the Mahama government, retorted: "That is so deceitful".

"Honestly", she asked, "How can you talk about a Mahama legacy debt when this nation has been ruling itself since 1957 and each government hands over debt to the next one?"

"So, it will be very unfair to just put it like that; and that is one of the things I'd like to mention when you talk about the general budget: One, the budget was a 'Kasantwi' budget, where there was a constant insulting of the former government. You don't do that", she said, stressing: "One government hands over to the other".

"Again", she emphasised, "While you were doing all that so-called 'kasantwi', you were also throwing the name of Jesus and God into the budget", she pointed out, wondering: "What kind of person does that kind of thing?"

"You insult with one mouth and then you invoke the name of Jesus with the same mouth, throwing Scripture into it. Let us be serious about our budget; our budget is a very important tool…", she urged.