And it came to pass that Ghanaians woke up to news about plans by government to sell off a prized state property – the new Bank of Ghana (BoG) building.
The reaction of Ghanaians when the story hit the social media space and outside it was scathing. All manner of invectives were hurled at government even in the absence of a formal announcement about such a transaction; none was made anyway.
There was no announcement of intention in that direction, but with no smoke without fire, many concluded that there were indeed boardroom manoeuvers to sell off the property and even rent it from the buyer. These were rife on the public space.
With the leverage of the internet, Ghanaians are able to recall previous opaque transactions and to be equivocal about their positions. The selling of the stock of gold accrued from the gold purchasing programme refers, and with that, the resistance not to dismiss the story became strong.
Then came an announcement, the only one from the apex bank, that the transaction story be disregarded because there was no such plan. The source of the story, we can bet, cannot simply cook a story without basis. Our position that there was indeed a plan to sell the building as reported and expectedly amplified loudly is anchored on the foregone.
In a political system characterised by propaganda or ‘settings’ as the Gen Zs would put it, dismissing stories outright without auditing them against previous incidence of opaqueness in governance is ill-advised.
The iconic structure now housing Ghana’s apex bank is not new to controversy.
Even before it was put up, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), then in opposition, kicked against the idea of putting up a new structure to house the Bank of Ghana. The good reasons behind the decision to build a new edifice outside the old place included convenience and a better architectural piece befitting the country’s apex bank. These did not deter the then NDC opposition from perpetrating their campaign of condemnation of the project.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government disregarded the machinations and went ahead to deliver to Ghanaians an iconic structure whose addition to Accra’s skyline has won public acclaim.
As fate would have it, the new NDC government took possession of the edifice after their series of choreographed condemnation of what for them at the time was a good-for-nothing project.
A terse denial, for us, is not enough to stop us from demanding more conversation about the building. Is it true that the plan was intended to use the proceeds to offset the recently incurred losses of the apex bank?
Who was going to be the buyer and what is his relationship with the corridors of power? In democracy, we are entitled to posing questions even if answers could be denied us and for that matter the good people of this country, as have been other subjects bordering on good governance and integrity.
Be it as it may, the Bank of Ghana structure has escaped a transfer transaction, and that for us is good news. Let nobody try any monkey business as Ghanaians are wide awake.