Richard Ahiagbah
The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute (DI), Richard Ahiagbah, has said a video circulating on social media that it was behind the collapse of financial institutions in the country is a grand strategy by the National Democratic Congress(NDC) to poison the atmosphere , create enmity and distort the issues.
Richard Ahiagbah said the claims that the institute has conspired with the government to collapse Unibank and others, was nothing but a callous plot to besmirch their reputation and mischaracterize the government’s honest effort to see through a painful but necessary clean up exercise.
He was reacting to the video in which a male voice was heard detailing how some of the indigenous Ghanaian banks collapsed, alleging it was a well-orchestrated plan by the Akufo-Addo government before officially assuming office.
In the said video, an unidentified voice said government acted on an article put out by Danquah Institute, a think tank affiliated to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to collapse the banks.
But in a rebuttal, Mr Ahiagbah maintained that “unless you are mischief-preneur, you know that willful collapse of banks or financial institutions, as claimed in the video , is not the disposition of a center-right policy institute or government whose policy bias is the growth and wellness of private enterprise , property and property rights , economic freedom and the rule of law among others.
He said the government chose , arguably the most challenging approach but one that was realistic and consistent with its compassionate liberal conservative values to protect the interest of depositors, employees and the economy.
He revealed that the approached had saved the solvent but struggling banks through the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) and a cleanup of the insolvent banks to promote long-term growth and confidence in the sector.
The Executive Director Of Danquah Institute continued that the decision was a choice between a comprehensive cleanup or the failed liquidity support approach of the John Mahama administration recalling 2015 and 2016 when the IMF supported the Bank of Ghana to undertake an asset quality review which revealed severe challenges with solvency, asset quality while other suffered capital shortfalls.
“The John Mahama administration opted to use liquidity support without a plan to address the underlying regulatory deficits and corporate governance malpractices, as it turned out , much of the liquidity support given to its friends were diverted to fund unrelated investments, poor corporate governance practices ruled the day paving the way for related interests deals to the detriment of employees , depositors and investors.
BY Linda Tenyah Ayettey
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)