Bank of Ghana governor must go after Ofori-Atta – Ricketts-Hagan

Former Deputy Minister for Finance, George Kwaku Ricketts-Hagan, is calling for the dismissal of the governor of Ghana’s Central Bank, Dr Ernest Addisson.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia programme monitored by GhanaWeb, Ricketts-Hagan said Dr Addison must be removed from office after current efforts to get the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta to resign succeeds.

“In fact, from the finance minister we should be going for the governor to go as well,” he told the host of the show, Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Friday, November 16, 2022.

According to Ricketts-Hagan, the BoG governor is equally guilty of contributing to Ghana’s current economic challenges for which the finance minister is facing a censure motion in parliament.

“Part of the inflation is also a result of the Bank of Ghana printing money for the government, this is what is causing what we call hidden inflation. This same Bank of Ghana after printing money for the reckless spending of the government leading to high inflation has also turned around to increase interest rate because of the high inflation,” he said.

The former deputy finance minister who is the current member of parliament for Cape Coast South added that the BoG has failed in its monetary management duty just as the finance ministry has failed in its fiscal management policy hence the need for the two officials to be removed from office.

“If I am to be pushing anything from my minority in parliament, the push next when we get Ofori-Atta is that Addison must also follow. Because the country has failed in both fiscal and monetary policy. So if we remove the finance minister and we fail to remove the one in charge of monetary policy, it will be like a cake half-baked,” he said.

The minority group in parliament has moved a motion of censure against the finance minister citing various allegations including conflict of interest and mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy.

An 8-member ad hoc committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to probe the allegations has so far received evidence from the minority group.

Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to appear before the committee later today, Friday, November 18, 2022, to respond to the grounds of the motion and the allegations levelled against him.

GA/FNOQ