One of Ghana’s opposition party, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), has accused the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison of deliberately lying to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that customers of the failed banks have been paid their deposits.

In a statement issued on Tuesday January 18, 2022, and signed by National Chairman, Nana Ofori Owusu, the PPP noted that they have taken time to investigate the claims made by the BoG Governor and thus, concluded that not all customers of the banks and non-bank financial institutions have received their deposits.

“Contrary to the impression given by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the Receivers and other officials, not all customers of the banks and non-bank financial institutions have received their deposits. Unfortunately, a huge lie has been told to President Akufo-Addo in this regard.”
PPP Statement

The PPP party, therefore, tabled three key areas where they demand urgent action from President Nana Akufo-Addo to solve the problems which they believed were caused by his government.

The first issue they called on the President to tackle is to pay all the customers of all regulated financial institutions whose licenses were revoked by government regulators, without conditions.

The Progressive People’s Party further wants the President to “restore contracts of Ghanaian contractors cancelled or suspended because they could not source additional funds to continue the work; and pay the debts (including interest) of the contractors owed to the financial institutions as a result of non-payment over the years. It is our estimate that these amounts could be as high as GHC10 billion.”

Finally, the want President Nana Addo to give credit to the financial institutions which were affected by the debts accumulated (including interest) from financing contracts awarded by state agencies.

BlackShield/Gold Coast Securities Customers Not Paid

PPP claimed that the Bank of Ghana’s decision not to pay customers of the defunct BlackShield/Gold Coast Securities until liquidation is untenable. The statement explained that as far as an agreement is concluded and the customers of BlackShield/Gold Coast were transferred to GCB Capital, they ought to have been paid.

“The decision not to pay investments of BlackShield/Gold Coast customers until that company is liquidated does not hold water. The owners of banks and non-bank financial institutions have taken the Bank of Ghana and the Receivers to court to challenge the revocation of licenses. Yet, the customers are not being paid. What is good for one is good for the other. Besides, by agreement the customers of fund management companies have been made to sign, they have become customers of a different fund manager approved by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The payments have been guaranteed to the customers per that agreement executed between the affected customers and the Amalgamated Fund managed by GCB Capital. In effect, the affected customers are no longer customers of Gold Coast/Blackshield, but they are customers of GCB Capital and must be paid.”
PPP Statement

Appeal to the President

The Progressive People’s Party called on the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to use his authority to reinstate the collapsed GN Bank. The statement added that the President should use his executive authority to cause the Finance Minister to make payments to these affected customers who are suffering unnecessarily because of the politics of selective payments to preferred contractors.

“We hereby make a special appeal to H.E. the President of the Republic to use his authority to cause the reinstatement of the GN Bank license. Many of the communities are still without a licensed financial institution. Many valuable assets are simply rotting away. The economy has not grown to absorb the thousands that were abruptly thrown out of jobs.

“There are thousands of soldiers, police officers, judges, teachers, civil servants, business people and people from all walks of life whose life savings are locked up as a result of SEC revoking fund managers’ licenses. We make another appeal to the President of the Republic to direct SEC to make sure that all customers of fund managers including Gold Coast/BlackShield are paid their investments without conditions.”
PPP Statement