The National Democratic Congress has largely blamed Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), for Ghana’s financial problems due to what they consider to be his bad leadership and reckless decisions in the banking sector.
As a the party has requested that he and his staff resign from their positions within 21 days.
During a press conference held at the party’s headquarters in Accra, the Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson repeatedly mentioned the Bank of Ghana’s Annual Report, which he claimed showed that large amounts of money had been recklessly spent on administrative activities.
He said that the Governor’s alleged plot with Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta cost the country a lot of money because he was careless and incompetent.
“The Governor has messed us up big time; he has imposed an illegal inflation tax on the people. Inflation is a tax, and it’s an illegal tax because it does not have legislation. That is why today, when you go to the market, things that you used to buy at one cedi, the next day you go in and you’re buying them at five cedis. Clearly, this takes away your disposable income.”
“This is how the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison, who is now known as the ‘Printer of Money’, conspired with members of the economic mismanagement team led by the failed Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia and the inept Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, aka ‘One Problem, One Bond’, to destroy Ghana’s Central Bank,” he said.
Dr. Forson used the BoG report that came out last week to say that the BoG’s trips abroad and within Ghana cost the Ghanaian taxpayer about GH97.4 million. This is about a 246% rise over the previous year.
According to Dr. Forson, the Bank spent a total of GH357.9 million on Banking Supervision Expenses and GH287.8 million on other, unknown expenses; another $250 million was reportedly put towards the development of a new headquarters at Ridge, Accra.
“Perhaps, the more troubling fact is that, having brought the Bank of Ghana to this terrible financial state, the Governor and his deputies have found it prudent and expedient to invest $250 million (GHC2.8 billion) on another Head Office building somewhere at Ridge. In our circumstances, this is the height of insensitivity in the management of the finances of a troubled country.”
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has claimed that the illegal printing of money by the Central Bank is to blame for Ghana’s depleting foreign currency reserves.
“This resulted in the unprecedented depreciation of the Cedi, the main cause of hyperinflation in 2022, resulting in the 850,000 people who were reported to have been pushed down the poverty line,” he added.
The NDC has asked the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, and his assistants to quit within 21 days. If the Governor does not step down by the deadline, the party has threatened to organise a picket at the Central Bank in Ghana.
