You won't run away from accountability

Barring any unforeseen changes, September 5, 2023, will see the opposition National Democratic Congress and ally protestors thronging Ghana's mother bank in protest to demand the removal of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana(BoG).

Ernest Kwabena Addison, the BoG governor and under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana Board caused a loss of some GHS 60.8 billion.

Some concerned Ghanaians posited that if that amount had not been lost cheaply, the country won't be out there "cup in hand" begging for a $3billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund(IMF) under the guise that the economy was at the Intensive Care Unit(ICU).

But the Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has said the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison should prepare himself to account to the people of Ghana.

His comments come after the Minority Leader in Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essi­am, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson said the Central Bank has been “grossly mismanaged” and was on 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.

Some Ghanaians said after painstakingly studying the damning revelations contained in the 2022 report and financial statements of the Bank of Ghana, it has concluded that the Central Bank is in the unprecedented mess it presently finds itself because of crass mismanagement by the Addison-led Board and management.

They hold the view that the illegal printing of money by BoG in the years 2021 and 2022 to the tune of GH¢77 billion to finance the recklessness of the corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, in flagrant disregard of section 30 of the BoG Act is the height of irresponsibility and must be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians.

However, Dr.Ernest Addison has said no procurement laws were broken in the building of the bank’s new head office in Accra. According to him, the decision to put up a new modern office for the Central Bank is not a recent idea, and it has been on the table since 2013.

He made the remarks at a press conference in Accra on Monday, August 21, 2023. He explained that the Bank of Ghana as far back as the 1990s began the search for suitable and secured land for a new head office and that in 2012, the Bank was allocated an unnumbered 5.19-acre land at Accra Central by the Lands Commission which also had issues.

Clement Apaak adding his voice to the loss of the Bank of Ghana said there are inconsistencies with the figures the Governor keeps throwing at Ghanaians.

In a Twitter post, he said Dr. Addison has a lot of questions to answer on the construction of the new BoG headquarters among others.

“You criminally make losses of GH¢60 billion, and expect us to accept the idiotic excuse that BOG was not set up to make a profit? Was BOG set up to make losses? Didn’t you say you started the $250M project because you made profits in 2019, 2020, and 2021? You won’t escape accountability!” he stated.