Dr Ernest Addison
At a press conference today, Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), disclosed that the decision to construct a new headquarters for the central bank was made in 2019 when the institution was experiencing profitable growth.
The revelation comes amidst growing demands from the Minority in Parliament for the BoG to provide clarifications regarding the construction project.
The Minority, comprising members of opposition parties, has been raising concerns and posing questions regarding the procurement process and other related matters concerning the new headquarters pegged at $250milluion.
Seeking transparency and accountability, they have called on the central bank to furnish them with detailed information on the land acquisition process.
Governor Addison explained at the press conference that the Bank of Ghana, as far back as the 1990s began the search for suitable and secured land for a new Head office.
In 2012, he said, the Bank was allocated an unnumbered 5.19-acre land at Accra Central by the Lands Commission which also had issues.
The Bank did not have access to the land since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration refused to give the Bank vacant possession on the grounds that they had never agreed to give up ownership of the land, the statement said, adding that the Bank continued to search for suitable land for its Head Office throughout the period from 2013 to 2016, he said.
“More recently in 2018, the Bank approached the SIC to acquire its vacant land at Ridge near the Ridge Hospital. The Government issued an Executive Instrument to allow the Bank of Ghana acquire that Land and SIC was duly compensated. The Bank then began to plan the building of its new Head Office, taking into consideration the need to ensure 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 includes provision for data centers, currency processes, vaults, and other sensitive installation. It is not just a simple ordinary building,” he said.
He stressed “Let me re-emphasize that the Bank followed all the necessary public procurement processes in this endeavor. No procurement laws were broken. I have requested that a more detailed response to the issues raised in the public discourse on the Bank’s new Head Office building be published on our website immediately.
“The decision to commence construction was taken in 2019 when the Bank generated profits.
“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. The Bank is fully aware of its responsibilities to ensure that the costs do not escalate beyond reasonable levels and that many of the original design features, including data centre, currency processing centre, ICT equipment, specialized security features have been deferred and only grey boxes provided for future use to manage costs.”
It remains to be seen how the Bank of Ghana will address the concerns raised by the Minority and whether the information provided will satisfy their demands for transparency and accountability.
By Vincent Kubi