The Member of Parliament for North Tongu and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has continued his criticism of the Bank of Ghana governor over his decision not to disclose the true cost of the bank’s new headquarters during Monday’s news conference.
Mr. Ablakwa says that if Dr. Ernest Addison is happy with his decision, he should be free to tell the public how much the building cost. He responded to the governor’s speech on Tuesday, August 22, by calling for the resignations of Dr. Addison and his subordinates.
“MisGovernor Addison still refuses to disclose to Ghanaians the latest cost of his majestic ‘legacy head office’ project despite his verbose press conference and additional mumbo jumbo press statement. Is MisGovernor Addison embarrassed to publicly mention the colossal figure of US$222.79million which excludes the cost of land?”
“Why is MisGovernor Addison unable to explain to Ghanaians why his insensitive, opulent legacy office project keeps spiraling out of budget from an initial PPA approved amount of US$81.8million to the current US$222.79million (excluding land cost)?” he asked.
Dr. Addison was lambasted by Mr. Ablakwa for refusing to step down despite calls for his resignation.
“Why is MisGovernor Addison still advertising the spectacular recklessness and gross mismanagement that has led to the BoG making unprecedented losses of GHS60.8billion and negative equity of GHS55.1billion.”
“MisGovernor Addison claims he started his ostentatious legacy project in good times. How can anyone describe a project whose procurement process commenced in 2020 during the peak of COVID-19 as a good time?”
At a press conference on Monday, BoG Governor Dr. Ernest Addison defended the rumoured $250 million expenditure on a new bank headquarters. Dr. Addison stated that the new building will include security measures that don’t exist in the current headquarters. He said that some of these features are data centres, currency processing sites, and more.
“The Bank then began to plan the building of its new head office taking into consideration the need to ensure that the building meets all the requirements of a modern central bank of international standards similar to central bank head office buildings in Abuja and Dakar and include provision for data centres, currency processing centres, volts and other sensitive installations, so it is not just a simple ordinary building.”
Dr. Ernest Addison has stated once again that the decision to build a new $250 million headquarters was made before the present economic crisis. He claimed building began in 2019 (when the central bank was earning).
“Appropriations for the Head Office were made each year from profits in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The project has therefore been going on for over 3 years… “The DDEP only took place in January 2023. If we were to be taking the decision today, building a legacy Head Office would not have been a priority. However, this is a project that has been running for 3 years and about 50 percent complete,” he added.
