Isaac Adongo, the deputy ranking member on the finance committee of parliament, has harshly criticised Dr. Ernest Addison, the governor of the Bank of Ghana, for the delay in submitting the central bank’s financial statements.
Adongo claims that the Bank of Ghana is required by law to submit its financial statements by the 15th of each month and publish its assets and liabilities on a regular basis.
He emphasises that the Bank of Ghana has disregarded this requirement.
The Bolgatanga Central MP announced during a press conference that he intended to take action to summon Dr. Ernest Addison for what he believed to be economic mismanagement.
Adongo expressed concern over the Bank of Ghana’s violation of its own Act, highlighting the fact that the Governor’s actions in this regard raise serious questions.
“There’s a very sad development in our country today. We are all aware that our economy is in a mess, and part of the reason we are in this mess is that Dr. Addison of the Bank of Ghana has mismanaged the Bank of Ghana. As we speak today, the BoG under the leadership of Dr. Addsion is always quick to revoke the licences of financial institutions that are not complying with the BoG Act. But the BoG itself is not complying with its own Act.
“And it raises serious red flags for our country, the BoG printed and pumped a lot of money to fund the government activities last year and the year before. Leading to very high levels of inflation, interest rates and an unprecedented depreciation of the cedi.
“We have been waiting for the gazetting and publication of the BoG’s own financial statements, which, by law, should have been published by the end of April of the year. We are now half a year through the year, and all the banks have complied with the filing of their returns to the Bank of Ghana.
“Those reports include what we call long-form reports, which are very detailed audited reports of the banks. Breaking down every single item of the balance sheets of the banks. The Bank of Ghana is not able to comply with its own law to do the very things the other banks are doing”.
He said they will ensure that the Governor of BoG accounts for his deeds.
“And at the end of the month, they are supposed to file. It’s been almost six months now, and the Bank of Ghana is in clear violation of these provisions. I want to serve a warning to Dr. Addison that he should remember that he had dragged people to court over violations of the BoG Act. He should know that the same level of accountability will be served him,” Adongo cautioned.
