The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, to resign from his office within 21 days, effective yesterday.
Failure to do that, the NDC said it would rally Ghanaians to picket at the BoG to force Dr Addison and his two deputies out of office.
The party said the BoG has been “grossly mismanaged” and was at the verge of collapse after it reported a GH¢60.8 billion loss and a GH¢55 billion negative equity in its 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement.
The Minority Leader and NDC MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, at a press briefing at the party’s headquarters in Accra, yesterday, said failure to force the governor and his deputies out, would be an endorsement of a bad precedent for the future management of the bank.
“We have resolved to embark on a popular action to occupy the central bank and drive out the team of inept managers of our finances to save the Bank of Ghana.
“Dr Ernest Addison and his deputies must go. There has to be an end to this impunity now. Fellow countrymen and women, let us arise and save the Bank of Ghana. The Central Bank has a big role to play. We cannot allow the Bank of Ghana to be managed and drawn to this level,” Dr Forson said.
The bank in the statement reported it spent GH¢131 million on vehicle maintenance, GH¢97 million on foreign and domestic travels, GH¢357 million on banking supervision, GH¢67 million on computer related expenses, GH¢32 million on communication, an undisclosed amount of GH¢287 million and a US$2 million on gold watches.
But, Dr Forson said, “The most troubling is that, having brought the Bank of Ghana to this terrible state, the governor and his deputies have found it prudent and expedient to invest US$250 million, which translates into almost GH¢3 billion, into a new head office building.
“In our circumstances, this is the height of insensitivity in the management of the finances of a troubled country; a country that is in a major crisis.”
He said the “illegal printing of monies for the government” by the bank is responsible for the depletion of Ghana’s international reserves which is expected to end 2023 at approximately, three weeks of import cover.
Dr Forson said the bank has been dealt a “catastrophic blow” by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led administration and needed to be resuscitated.
He said the statement of the bank is an indication of a fertile foundation for the collapse of the financial sector which would worsen the “already horrible economic condition” of Ghanaians.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
