The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has told the Minority that they would not be supported by the Majority if they file a motion to invite the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Dr Ernest Addison to Parliament.
In the view of Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority has prejudged the Governor with their street protest, therefore, they should not expect any support from the Majority side of the House to drag Dr Addison before Parliament.
He said that the opposition Members of Parliament could have invited him to Parliament to answer questions relating to the new headquarters building and also the GHS60.8billion loss it incurred rather than embarking on a street protest.
“We are Members of Parliament, we could have invited the Governor to come and talk about the issues that are not clear to us. You go on a demonstration and organize a press conference against the man then you come back to Parliament to move the motion [to invite him], do you want me to support that?
“Now, you have made up your mind that whatever has been done by [the Governor] is inappropriate, you are not going to countenance it, so if he comes to explain the issues, are you going to take it or jettison it?” the Suame Lawmaker told TV3’s Evelyn Tengmaa in an interview on Monday, October 9.
The Minority was demanding Dr Addison’s resignation together with that of his two deputies – Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari and Elsie Addo Awadzi over mismanagement.
The caucus initially gave the three governors 21 days to resign but after the ultimatum elapsed decided to hit the streets and march to the headquarters of the central bank to demand that physically.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) were later incensed by the devotion of over $200 million for the construction of an ultra-modern headquarters in Accra at a time the Bank had recorded losses in its financial books.
They also accused the Bank of writing off government debt to the tune of GH¢48.4 million and overprinting cash for expenditure by the government against the Bank of Ghana Act.
Ningo Prampram lawmaker Samuel Nartey George told journalists during the protest that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament invited Dr Addison to appear before it to answer questions relating to the operations of the Bank however the Governor showed up just three times in the last seven years.
“Ernest Addison is a coward, we had stated earlier that we were sure he wouldn’t show up.
“For seven years I have been on the Public Accounts Committee, the Public Accounts Committee invites the Bank of Ghana twice a year but he has appeared only three times in seven years so it is not strange.”
Responding to his claim, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bosu said “I don’t know what he is saying, you don’t go out there and throw dust into the eyes of the people and give the dog a bad name so that you can hang it, it is not right.”
Regarding the demonstration, Dr Addison told Central Banking that the protest dubbed #OccupyBoGProtest “was completely unnecessary” and neither he nor his two deputies intend to step down.
“The Minority in Parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” Dr Addison told Central Banking in the interview on Wednesday, October 4.
On the building of the state-of-art headquarters, the Governor said the decision was taken in 2019 “when the bank was profitable and appropriated some of its profits for the new headquarters”.
“It was not a decision taken during a crisis.”
