Convener of the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management, Charles Nyame, has issued a 48hrs ultimatum to the finance ministry to immediately make payments of monies owed customers of the defunct company.
According to him, the aggreived customers of Gold Coast Fund Management, did investments with the Fund Management owned by Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom. However, he noted that the company collapsed as a result of the government’s financial cleanup exercise.
Speaking at the premises of the finance ministry today, October 10, 2023, Mr Nyame explained that following the collapse of the company, the government made customers submit claims of investment through the various consolidated banks across the nation, after which the Securities and Exchange Commission came out with a budget of GHC8 billion to pay 47 fund management companies whose customers fell to the financial cleanup exercise.
After the budget was made, Mr Nyame stated that the finance ministry and the government allocated these monies in the 2020 mid-year budget, and topped it up to GHC8.6 billion.
“After this GHC600 million was budgeted for and approved by parliament, the first tranche was done in 2020 mid-year budget, that was GHC3.1 billion – the government used it for something called the partial bailout, which gave each investment, GHC50,000. Now, the remaining GHC5.5 billion was approved in 2021 mid-year budget.”
Charles Nyame
Aggrieved customers lament insensitivity of government
Furthermore, Mr Nyame highlighted that since the approval was done, there have not been disbursement of any sorts, but all document available from finance ministry and the government, in the parliament house and public domain indicates that the government has spent GHC26 billion in paying out customers who fell to the financial cleanup.
“When you try to digest the component of this GHC26 billion that the government claims it has spent, our approved GHC8.6 billion that was supposed to pay fund management customers in full. [This] has been calculated as part of the GHC26 billion that has been spent.
“Meanwhile, these monies did not reach us, that is why we are here today, to demand our immediate payment from the finance ministry, since they claim that those monies have been spent.”
Charles Nyame
Moreover, Mr Nyame insisted that government and the finance ministry “have to give us the money right here because they have created bank accounts for all these customers across the various commercial banks”. Owing to this, he noted that customers expect them to “advance monies to the commercial banks for them to credit accounts within these 48 hours that we are going to tarry here, then we leave here”.
“We don’t expect the finance ministry and the government to be so insensitive, as to the point as we have exposed them for their greediness of spending our monies without reaching us…”
Charles Nyame
Prior to this, Mr Nyame lamented that over 800 of their members have died in the last five years due to the government’s refusal to pay their investments. He maintained that the group would only leave the ministry’s premises once their locked-up funds are paid.
“It has been five years, and we have over 800 of our colleagues who were old people and are now dead. We have evidence of their obituaries. That is the reason why we are going to the Finance Ministry to picket for 48 hours non-stop. We demand that the Finance Ministry release monies to the commercial banks to credit our accounts before we will leave the place.”
Charles Nyame
Subsequently, Mr. Nyame assured members of the group that the police have not opposed the planned picket and urged them to converge at the Obra Spot to be bused to the Ministry of Finance.
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