A Former Director of the legal division of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Madam Mangowa Ghanney, has denied allegations that Databank received undue benefits from government because of its affiliation with Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
In recent times, Mr. Ofori-Atta has been criticised for capitalizing on his position as Finance Minister to enrich himself by handing down contracts to his company, Databank Financial Services Limited.
Mangowa Ghanney who worked at the Ministry prior to and during Ken Ofori-Atta’s appointment as Finance Minister, has however said that, Databank merited all the contracts it received from the State.
“As far as I know, nothing has been handed down to Databank on a silver platter. Databank has always had to compete with other institutions to be part of what the Ministry of Finance does.”
Mangowa Ghanney, Fmr. Director Legal Division -MoF
The Former Director of MoF’s legal division disclosed that the Ministry has in the past few years, embarked on a policy “to encourage local participation” in its operations.
According to her, what the Ministry does is to announce to local financial institutions when there are projects available at the Ministry that demanded their expertise.
Mangowa noted that when the financial institutions tendered in their proposals for carrying out the projects, the Ministry “evaluated and picked the best responses.” It is just coincidental that “Databank happened to be one of those companies that we [MoF] picked [often].”
According to her, Databank and some other financial institutions have proved over the years that they were capable to accomplish tasks and hence, the Ministry’s frequent decisions to work with them.
“The Ministry of Finance has worked with Databank, and we have worked with them and with other local financial institutions because they presented themselves as able to present the task [on] which we were looking for technical advice [and] legal advice.”
Mangowa Ghanney, Fmr. Director Legal Division -MoF
Mangowa mentioned that the relationship between MoF and Databank was before Ofori-Atta’s appointment as the sector Minister.
Mangowa even said that, it was highly possible that MoF had worked more with some other local financial institutions than it had worked with Databank.
The Former head of the legal division at MoF advised parties who are alleging Mr. Ofori-Atta is using his office to his advantage, to report the issue to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). However, she was staunch in her conviction that Databank merited all contracts received from MoF.
“Conflicts of interest issues are the realm of CHRAJ and so they should be referred to CHJRAJ so that CHRAJ can do investigations [then we can] justify or debunk [the allegations] but from where I was sitting at the Ministry of Finance, I don’t see that there were any remarkable conflict of interest issues that have resulted in the Minister taking advantage of government’s finances and enriching himself or an affiliate at the expense of the country.”
Mangowa Ghanney, Fmr. Director Legal Division -MoF
The ‘Ofori-Atta Enriches Himself’ Allegation
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has come under series of attacks for wrecking Ghana’s economy.
Mr. Ofori-Atta has been the subject of almost all political and economic discourses in the country for sometime now.
Members of Parliament from his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) have all called for his dismissal.
NDC Parliamentarians have started constitutional processes to have the Minister removed. On October, 25, 2022, they filed a motion of censure against him.
As part of the seven grounds on which the NDC Parliamentarians filed their censure motion was the allegation that the Finance Minister capitalizes on Ghana’s economic misfortunes to enrich himself.
“Despicable conflicts of interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.”
Ground 1 of Minority’s censure motion
The Minority always referred to the Minister’s own statement on the floor of Parliament that his company, Databank Financial Services Limited, made GH¢159.3 million as book runners for bonds between 2017 and 2021, as their proof that Ofori-Atta was unduly benefiting from Ghana.
However, as the Parliamentary censure motion ad hoc committee probed the matter, they cleared Ken Ofori-Atta of that allegation.
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