The Minority Caucus in Parliament has written to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison and requested his availability for the Caucus to submit its petition to demand the resignation of the Governor and his two deputies.
In a letter addressed to the Governor of the Central Bank, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson indicated that the Caucus decision was occasioned by its inability to submit its initial petition to the Governor of the Central Bank during its October 3 2023 protest.
According to Ajumako Enyan Essiam Member of Parliament, the Minority Caucus in Parliament is requesting the Governor of the central bank to indicate the date and time convenient to him for the Caucus to present its petition to him at the Bank of Ghana head office.
“On 3rd October 2023, Honourable Members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament, backed by some civil society groups and hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians, peacefully marched to the precincts of the Bank of Ghana head office to demand your resignation as Governor of the central bank. We also demanded that your two Deputy Governors and the entire board of the Bank of Ghana resign from their posts.
“Before the protest march, we had made it abundantly clear to the people of Ghana that handing over our petition to you personally was also a part of our demands. But you failed to show up at the terminating point of our protest march to receive our petition. Subsequently, we informed you through the news media that we shall come back to present our petition for your resignation and that of your deputies to you personally. We therefore write to request your availability at the premises of the Bank of Ghana head office for the Honourable Members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament to hand over our petition to you personally”.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson
Minority Reiterates Its Justifications For BOG Governor’s Resignation
The Minority Leader, Dr Ato Forson further accused the Governor of the Central Bank of his failure to use monetary policy to check inflation in the country as well as his failure to regulate the depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi.
According to Dr Ato Forson, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has mismanaged the Central Bank causing the Central Bank to lose a colossal sum of GHS60.8 billion and recording a negative equity of GHS55.1 billion according to the annual financial statement of the Bank of Ghana for 2022.
Moreover, Dr Ato Forson indicated that as a result of the mismanagement of the Bank of Ghana by Governor Ernest Addison and his two deputies, the Central Bank cannot in the medium term be relied upon to carry out its role as the banker of last resort for government and the banking sector.
He alleged that the situation prompted the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori Atta to request Parliament to approve a sum of $750 million to support the ‘ailing’ banks in the country.
“You have supervised the collapse of the financial sector of the country resulting in all banks posting colossal losses in 2022. Interest rate hikes have made Ghana unattractive for businesses to spend and create jobs. Many businesses have collapsed. Your unprecedented mismanagement of the central bank has resulted in the insolvency of the Bank of Ghana itself and this became obvious in your annual financial statement”.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson
In addition, Dr Ato Forson recounted that there is abundant evidence of ‘wanton dissipation’ of the Bank of Ghana’s resources through a series of ‘wasteful’ and ‘extravagant’ procurements, including the contract for the construction of the new Bank of Ghana Head Office building at Ridge in Accra.
According to him, the actions of the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Ernest Addison and two deputies have pushed over one million Ghanaians into extreme poverty, hence he must be held responsible and accountable.
“Contrary to the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 918), you illegally and excessively printed the sum of GHS80 billion (evidenced by paragraph 2 of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policy) which caused the depletion of Ghana’s external reserves of $6.3 billion, and resulted in the unprecedented depreciation of the Cedi as it fell from GHS6/$1 to over GHS15/$1 while inflation rose to hyper levels of 54.1% in 2022”.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson
The Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson concluded by emphasizing the need for the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to resign and for President Akufo-Addo to appoint new leadership to the central bank to undertake the needed restructuring of the country’s financial sector to revive its finances.
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