Cassiel Ato Forson
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has officially requested the presence of Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), to receive their petition calling for his removal from office.
In October of this year, the Minority group took to the streets, and marched to the Central Bank’s premises to demand Dr. Addison’s resignation.
However, their efforts to submit the petition were hindered as the BoG Governor did not meet with the Minority Caucus. The security personnel designated to receive the petition on behalf of Dr. Addison were rejected by the Minority group.
A statement released on Monday, December 11, 2023, and signed by Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, stated, “We, therefore, write to request your availability at the premises of the Bank of Ghana head office for the Honourable Members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament to hand over our petition to you personally.”
The statement further highlighted the reasons behind their call for Dr. Addison’s resignation. These reasons include failure to effectively address inflation and the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi through monetary policy; supervision of the financial sector’s collapse, resulting in significant losses for banks and the closure of many businesses; mismanagement of the Bank of Ghana’s resources, leading to substantial financial losses; and negative equity.
Other reasons are, inability to act as the banker of last resort for the government and the banking sector, necessitating a request for financial support from the Finance Minister; evidence of wasteful and extravagant procurements, such as the construction of the new Bank of Ghana head office building, leading to the dissipation of resources.
The rest include illegal and excessive printing of GH¢80 billion, depleting the country’s external reserves, and causing the depreciation of the cedi and hyperinflation; and responsibility for pushing over one million Ghanaians into extreme poverty due to mismanagement of the Bank of Ghana.
The Minority Caucus urged Dr. Addison, his deputy governors, and the entire board of the Bank of Ghana to resign, facilitating the appointment of new leadership to address the financial sector’s challenges and revive the country’s economy.
The Minority Caucus expects a response from Dr. Addison by December 18, 2023, regarding his availability at the Bank of Ghana premises to personally receive their petition.
By Vincent Kubi