The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South Constituency, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has prevailed on President Mahama to withdraw the appointment of Dr. Johnson Asiamah as Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

Dr. Asiamah was appointed following the terminal leave, leading to the retirement of Dr. Ernest Addison.

During a press conference held at Kumasi by the Ashanti regional caucus in Parliament, the Manhyia South MP together with other MPs of Ashanti Region expressed their displeasure with Dr. Asiamah’s taking over the central bank.

“Because banks are important to Ghanaians, today we’re telling President Mahama that Governor of the Bank of Ghana appointment he has made, he should withdraw it. He needs to withdraw the appointment of Johnson Asiamah as governor of the Bank of Ghana,” said Nana Baffour Awuah.

He is convinced that Dr. Johnson Asiamah is the main reason why some banks in Ghana collapsed some years back.

“When John Mahama was President in the year 2013-2016, Asiamah was the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana by then. It was his job to oversee the banks and we all can attest to the fact that banks in Ghana were in jeopardy,” said the MP.

“IMF and the World Bank advised Mahama to do a banking sector clean up but they didn’t do it and they lost the election. It was up to Nana Addo to do the clean up, and when he did, he realized Johnson Asiamah was part of the reasons why some banks collapsed,” he added.

Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah explained it was shady that the Attorney-General withdrew charges against the ex-BoG deputy governor right before he was appointed as BoG Governor.

“This is the same person the banks took to court. The Republic vs Johnson Asiamah, in the case of the collapsed UT Bank, the Republic vs Dr Kobina Duffour and 8 others, of which he was part of the 8 others. The Attorney-General came and withdrew the cases and they made him governor of the Bank of Ghana the ‘next day’,” he stated.

The Manhyia South MP said the President should not make the mistake the NPP made by not listening to Ghanaians.

“Ghanaians want us to take their needs seriously and that is the mistake we made. Everyone uses money for business. After their transactions, they take their money to the bank. So if the banks are in need, everyone will be in need and they will be against you,” he stated.