Former President John Mahama
Former President John Mahama was the recipient of a free consultancy on the banking sector malaise in the country when Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia updated him on the subject yesterday.
It is necessary to winnow the chaff from the grains when desperate campaigning can send some politicians dangerously overboard. We only hope that he listened and took sufficient notes in a subject which is not an abode for doctrinaire bankers.
The former president’s newfound love with the banking sector and his alternative prescription is a subtle way of running away from the role he played in the creation of the mess he now finds appropriate for his media engagements.
Fortunately, the Vice-President, a compendium of the subject, seized the opportunity offered him to deliver the keynote address at the launch of a major housing project yesterday at Amasaman, Accra, to clear the untruths being peddled by the former president.
Mr. Mahama could have done himself and his compatriots a big favour were he to inculcate in his political ranting about the banking sector malaise vis-a-vis the BoG’s necessary intervention, the fact that he spawned the mess after all.
Such a context would bring out a better picture and, therefore, a clearer understanding of the subject. What a rare opportunity for those with limited knowledge about the subject to comprehend it.
Seeking to create the erroneous impression about an option to the action of the BoG is tantamount to hypocrisy on his part.
Industry players – local and international – appreciate the BoG action and can only bask in the mirth originating from misconceptions being disseminated by the former president.
To proffer a bailout for the insolvent banks as the former president as an alternative to the apex bank’s antidote is in the first place an admission about the sorry state of the companies – something he is responsible for. In any case, this option was never resorted to in countries where insolvency afflicted financial institutions. The reasons are not far-fetched: when such banks reach this notch of ailment, they would not respond to the treatment under this option; the best prescription, therefore, being just what the apex bank administered.
Tabling a second opinion which the former president seeks to do is an afterthought which, unfortunately, Ghanaians cannot be convinced about.
Banking reforms which the country has benefitted from so far are attributable to others but the NDC’s.
We shudder to imagine what would have befallen the country had the BoG delayed its action.
Perhaps after the Vice-President’s abrasive response to the former president’s banking sector ranting, the latter would advise himself about the minefield which the subject he has chosen lately for his political campaigns constitutes.