The prostesting customers
ABOUT 100 people at the Koforidua Central Market in the Eastern Region who were customers of defunct Fanteakwa Rural Bank have started fresh agitations over their locked-up savings.
The agitating victims mostly farmers, traders, drivers, teachers and owners of small-scale enterprises have called on the government and the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, as well as the Bank of Ghana to help them retrieve their monies.
According to them, the lack of access to their funds has brought untold hardships to them and their dependants.
They are claiming that most of the customers had between GH¢500 and GH¢27,000.00 which are still locked up in the collapsed bank.
The Fanteakwa Rural Bank which had its headquarters at Begoro and branches in Koforidua, Osiem, Suhum, Anyinam, and other parts of the region was owned by the incumbent MP for Fanteakwa North Kwaku Amankwah Asiamah.
It was established in 2004 but it collapsed in 2012 and as at the time of the collapse, it was estimated that about 1,000 customers had their funds locked up.
Some of the victims received their funds but many others are claiming they have still not received theirs.
Many demonstrations were staged particularly before the 2016 election by the victims to exert pressure on the MP to refund their locked-up funds.
At a press conference in Koforidua, the aggrieved victims, numbering about twenty took on the MP for allegedly failing to initiate plans of paying back the customers.
According to them, several attempts to get their funds refunded have fallen on deaf ears.
They claimed the MP promised to refund their money after the 2020 general election but has not been responding to their calls ever since.
The MP, when contacted, declined to comment on the latest agitations.
He earlier noted that it is also incorrect that the bank owes over 1,000 customers, explaining that they managed to refund deposits of the majority of the customers.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua