‘MoMo’ interoperability: Former governor rubbishes GHC4.6bn claims against NDC

It is completely false, claims that the former NDC administration intended to invest a whopping GHC4.6 billion of public funds into the Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) service during the party’s term in office, Former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Nashiru Issahaku has said.

The MMI service that allows direct and seamless transfer of funds from one mobile money wallet to another across networks was launched by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Friday May 11, 2018.

Information emerging after the kick-off of the service however suggested that the NDC, as part of efforts to enable the same service under its administration, contracted Sibton Switch Systems to set up the system at GHC4.6 billion, which would be managed by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS).

The same project was reviewed by the ruling government per reports and it consequently was discovered that a less outrageous amount; 16 million, could be used for the same project. This relatively means that an amount of $1 billion of the public purse had been saved by the ruling NPP government.

In a statement dated 14th May however, the former Governor completely ruled out the allegations, describing them as false and urging Ghanaians to disregard it.

According to him, the proposed 4.6 billion proposed was an amount which was from the onset, supposed to be solely generated by the contracted company; Sibton Switch Systems and not to be taken from the public funds like claims are suggesting.

“I wish to categorically state that the claim that the Bank of Ghana (BOG), under the previous NDC regime was to commit an amount of GHC 4.6 billion of public funds into the proposed switch to interconnect mobile money transactions is totally false and should be disregarded.”

“SIBTON SWITCH was selected through due process to execute the contract using a self-financing mechanism to raise GHC4.6 billion on their own to build a robust interface intended to ensure efficiency and safety, among other benefits. Neither government nor BoG was going to pay the purported GHC4.6 billion. The amount was actually the estimated projection for the cashflow of investment to interconnect electronic payments and transfers over a fixed period,” parts of his statement read.

Read the full statement below