The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has justified the construction of a new office building for the bank reportedly at a cost of $250 million.

Dr Addison said the new building will have some sensitive features which the current head office building does not have. 

These features according to him, will include data centres, currency processing centres and more.

Addressing the media on Monday, August 21, the Governor said the new building is designed to meet a modern day head office of a central bank as compared to those in Abuja and Dakar. 

He, however, did not make mention of the exact amount being quoted as the cost of the project. He said he has requested a more detailed response to be released to address all other concerns regarding the project.

“The Bank then began to plan the building of its new head office taking into consideration the need to ensure that the building meets all the requirements of a modern central bank of international standards similar to central bank head office buildings in Abuja and Dakar and include provision for data centres, currency processing centres, volts and other sensitive installations, so it is not just a simple ordinary building.”

Dr Addison also insisted that the central bank followed all procurement processes in the country and did not breach any law in this endeavor. 

“Let me reemphasize that the Bank followed all the necessary procurement processes in this endeavor,” he said. 

He also explained that processes for the new head office commenced in the 1990s, discrediting arguments that the bank was investing in such a project at a time the country was in financial difficulties.

According to him, these processes preceded his tenure as the Governor of the central bank. 

“The Bank of Ghana as far back as 1990s began search for a suitable and secured land for a head office. In 2012, the bank was allocated an unnumbered 5.19 acre land at Accra Central by the Lands Commission which also had issues.”

“The Bank did not have access to the land since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration refused to give to give the Bank vacant possession on the grounds that they had never agreed to give up ownership of the land, but the Bank continued to search for a new land for its head office since 2013 to 2016.”

“More recently, in 2018, the Bank approached the State Insurance Cooperation (SIC) to acquire its vacant land at Ridge near the Ridge Hospital.”

“The government issued an Executive Instrument to allow the Bank of Ghana acquire that land and the SIC was duly compensated.”

The Minority in Parliament at a press conference on Tuesday, August 8, disclosed the cost of the central bank’s new head office under construction. 

Its Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said the bank spending a whopping $250 million dollar to build a head office in the current economic crisis was untenable. 

It has thus demanded the resignation of the BoG Governor and his two deputies for the GHS60 billion loss the bank incurred in 2022.

But the Governor has explained that the losses were not occasioned by mismanagement but largely by the government through its initiatives like the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, DDEP and other factors.