Call for Ernest Addison, others to resign: Bank of Ghana statement full of flimsy justifications – Minority

Members of Parliament (NPP) of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have slammed the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for its response to their party's call for the resignation of all the governors of the bank for their mismanagement which has bankrupted it.

In a statement issued on Friday, August 11, 2023, the NDC MPs, who form the minority caucus of parliament, described the statement issued by the BoG in response to the issues raised by the NDC, as useless.

It said that the BoG, in its statement, failed to give an explanation to the issues raised by the party, including the printing of money outside the legally permitted threshold, which every Ghanaian is concerned about.

“The referenced Bank of Ghana’s statement does not address the most fundamental issue which has to do with the printing of money by BOG for the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government in 2021 and 2022 in clear contravention of Section 30 of the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2016 (ACT 918).

“Indeed, throughout the statement, BOG does not and could not have offered any reasonable justification for printing a whopping GHS35 billion in 2021 and GHS42 billion in 2022 to finance the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, in clear breach of their governing law.

“It is an indisputable fact, that the amount of monies printed by BOG for the reckless Akufo Addo/Bawumia government both in 2021 and 2022 far exceeds the legally acceptable threshold of 5% of the previous fiscal year’s total revenue,” parts of the statement, which was issued by the minority leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, reads.

It said that the BoG only made excuses for its failure, mismanagement and unchecked expenditures in the statement, it issued.

“It is totally reprehensible, that the fees of the very Directors who have supervised this mess were increased by about 80% in the year 2022 alone.

"Even more bizarre is the contrived justification for the new BOG head office which is costing the taxpayer a colossal $250 million (GHS3 billion) at this time of excruciating hardships for the nation. The excuse that the current Bank of Ghana Head office is not earthquake resistant is the most ridiculous, to say the least,” it added.

The NDC called on the governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, and his two deputies to step down for supposedly mismanaging the central bank which has led to it incurring a loss of GHC60 billion.

The party said that should the governors fail to resign, it would organise a demonstration to occupy the premises of the BoG till they step down within the next 21 days.

Read the full statement below:

BAI/NOQ

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