On Tuesday, September 5, the minority in parliament will organize a protest against Dr. Ernest Addison, governor of the Bank of Ghana, and his two deputies.
Collaboration with Civil Society Organizations, Progressive Forces, and other the public will be used to carry it out.
This is in accordance with a letter sent to the Greater Accra Regional Police Command on August 21 by Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.
The caucus claims that the action is motivated by the central bank’s unauthorized printing of more than GH80 billion for the Akufo-Addo administration.
We are writing to you in accordance with Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Public Order Act of 1994 (Act 491) to inform you of an upcoming public demonstration that the Minority in Parliament will be organizing in partnership with Civil Society Organizations, Progressive Forces, and other kind-hearted Ghanaians.
The letter claimed, in part, “The purpose of our protest is to voice our revulsion over the illegal printing of money (approximately GH 80 billion) by BOG for the corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP regime between 2021 and 2022, which resulted in a hyper-inflation rate of 54.1% in December 2022.”
They claim that due to the BoG’s actions, some 850,000 Ghanaians are now living in abject poverty.
“As representatives of the Ghanaian people, the Minority in Parliament is totally disgusted by the crass mismanagement and reckless mishandling of the affairs of the Bank of Ghana, which resulted in a gargantuan loss of GHC60.8 billion and a negative equity of GHCS5.1 billion in 2022, with its attendant hardships on Ghanaians,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has explained that the central bank did not provide funding for the government until 2020 and 2022 during the COVID19 Pandemic and after investors in the capital market declined from lending to the government.
According to him, the central bank strictly adhered to the zero financing of government expenditure until the economic difficulties set in last year.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, August 21, Dr Addison said financing of government policies last year was undertaken with prior consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“It is not true that the Bank of Ghana has been providing financing for government every year. There has been zero financing in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Bank of Ghana has only had to support in the pandemic year of 2020, and in the crises year of 2022”, he stressed.
He pointed out that the BoG Act as amended limits financing of the government to 5 percent of the previous year’s tax revenue.
“This provision in the law has been adhered to since I took office in April, 2017, between 2017 and 2019. In addition to the requirement of the Act, the bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Finance to even impose the tighter restriction of zero Central Bank financing and this was observed strictly even though the MOUs were not legally binding.”
source: myjoyonline
