BoG is a lawless entity - Isaac Adongo

A Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has described the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as a lawless entity which sets bad example for corporate governance in the financial sector.

According to him, the BoG in May 2018 breaches its obligation to publish its audited financial statements by March 31 and subsequently had to rectify when it was brought to its attention.

The Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament noted in a statement copied to GhanaWeb that “the Bank of Ghana Act, as amended imposes clear reporting obligations on the Central Bank to report to Parliament, its activities every six months.”

He said, “Section 53 provides that ‘The Bank shall hold all foreign exchange of Ghana and submit a report to Parliament on all foreign exchange receipts and payments or transfers of the Bank in and outside Ghana once every six months.”

In addition, “the Bank, in Section 53 (A) 1, is expected to report as follows; (a) A report on the conduct of activities in the exercise of the mandate of the Bank under section 4 and; (b) A report on any other relevant functions being exercised by the Bank under various enactments.”

He observed that the aforementioned are far-reaching provisions that require the Bank to report to Parliament on the entirety of its functions for scrutiny and Parliamentary oversight over its activities.

Mr Adongo stated further that the laws of Ghana require the Bank to report to Parliament in respect of the first six months at the end of July and the remaining six months at the end of February of the preceding financial year.

“As we speak, we are in March and the BoG is nowhere near Parliament yet Universal banks regulated by BoG are complying with their obligations to report regularly to the Bank of Ghana but BoG cannot comply with its obligations two months after the close of the year. This is why I am calling on every Ghanaian to tell the Bank of Ghana that instead of playing mind games with non-existent $800 million, it should comply with its own obligations to Parliament and answer for its dwindling reserves and the deteriorating health of the cedi,” the statement reads on.