Agitated customers with placards
Some aggrieved persons claiming to be customers of Gold Coast Fund Management, a member of Groupe Nduom, belonging to politician and entrepreneur, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, yesterday hit the streets to demand what they said were their ‘locked up’ money with the fund management firm.
The customers were clad in red and black attire, and held placards with various inscriptions such as “Dr. Nduom, bring back the money of pensioners”, “Mr. President, pensioners and the disabled are dying”, “Mr, President, over 800,000 innocent Ghanaians are dying because of Nduom”, among others.
The aggrieved customers insisted that some financial houses were also closed down like Gold Coast during the financial sector reforms by the central bank, but those customers got back their investments and did not understand why Gold Coast Fund is not paying them.
“Gold Coast Fund has been struggling for almost a year now but nothing has been said to customers. We do not know our fate. We need the government to come out and tell us something,” an aggrieved customer said.
Another customer said “we are demonstrating to press home our demands for the government to make an intervention regarding our locked up funds because it is by his financial clean-up exercise that has created this whole situation.”
GN Bank, another company of the Groupe Nduom, was closed down after it was downgraded to a Savings and Loans before its licence was finally withdrawn by the Bank of Ghana.
Rebuttal
The Gold Coast Fund has come out strongly to insist that they are working out a plan to settle all customers.
It issued a statement saying some of their customers are influencing others against accepting a new payment plan and the move is calculated to destroy the image and businesses of the Chairman of Groupe Nduom, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.
“We are currently calling our customers with balances under GH¢2,000 to confirm their mobile money or bank details and make arrangements to pay them. We are aware that members of the group have encouraged those receiving calls not to answer the phone and not to come for their money, arguing that these payments are a tactic to reduce their strength as a unified group. We wish to assure our customers that our phone calls are genuine and urge them to come for their money when contacted,” a statement by the company said on Tuesday, 15th October 2019.
By Nana Kwasi