The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has described Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Dr Ernest Addison’s response to the #OccupyBoG demonstration as “reckless, shameless, and irresponsible”.
He could not understand why the BoG governor would “describe honourable Members of Parliament and responsible citizens who exercised their democratic rights by peacefully protesting as ‘hooligans’”.
To him, Dr Addison’s response was not only an insult to the #OccupyBoG demo protestors but also those who participated in past demonstrations like President Akufo-Addo.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the central bank governor will face the full rigours of the law should NDC come to power.
“When he starts facing the music, when he gets an invitation to EOCO, he will know that we were not engaging in hooliganism,” he added.
In an interview with an international business news website, Central Banking, the BoG Governor disclosed that he was not stepping down, describing a protest by minority legislators as “completely unnecessary.”
“The Minority in Parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” Dr Addison responded to the #OccupyBoG protest held on Tuesday.
He rejected claims by the minority about mismanagement, stating that the Bank of Ghana provided monetary financing during 2020 and 2022 to meet specific crises, which he says is legal under the central bank law.
The Central Bank posted losses totalling GHC60.81 billion for the 2022 financial year as against a profit of GHC1.23 billion recorded in 2021.
The losses were a result of the government’s domestic debt restructuring activities and the depreciation of the cedi, among other effects.
Dr Addison explained, “The impairment of the bank’s holdings of debt, which led to the losses, was a conditionality for the IMF programme. Nobody at the Bank of Ghana forgave any debt.”
The governor also clarified that the BoG’s decision to commence construction of the new headquarters was made in 2019 when the bank was profitable and had allocated some of its profits for the new headquarters.
“It was not a decision taken during a crisis,” he added in an interview with the international business website Central Banking,
