Senior Partner at the Africa Legal Associates and New Patriotic Party member, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has fought off claims that the taxpayer would lose gravely if the receiver of the failed banks fails to retrieve all the monies from their clean up.
While underscoring the importance of retrieving the said monies from the former owners and directors of the eight collapsed banks, Mr Otchere-Darko who is a close confidant of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said there are other means of getting back state monies expended in the clean-up.
He said the government can sell its shares in the Consolidated Bank Ghana, which was formed by merging some of the collapsed banks.
The proceeds from the sale, he said, can be invested in developmental projects to the benefit of the taxpayer.
“…because I don’t think this government came into office thinking it was going to spend monies on things that are not in its manifesto,” Mr. Otchere-Darko said on Newsfile Saturday.
Meanwhile, NDC MP for Yapei Kusawgu Constituency, John Jinapor who also spoke on Newsfile said there were better options the central bank could have used to reform the financial sector.
It could have been done in “a one-off approach rather than taking them in piece…”
He also said the crisis cannot be allowed to go on forever and that the Bank of Ghana must bring it to an end, even if it meant “writing off something.”
The National Democratic Congress has for long criticised the government’s approach to reforming the financial sector.
Ex-President and current Flagbearer of the party, John Mahama has insisted the regulator could have supported the banks to remain in existence instead of collapsing them; a move that has led to mistrust in the financial space after 23 Savings and Loans companies also went down which was preceded by 386 Microfinance institutions going down.
Mahama criticised the government’s handling of the reforms in a live video
The BoG has justified its approach to cleaning up the sector on different occasions. In the case of the banks, Governor, Ernest Addison said some of them should not have existed.
Sovereign bank, for instance, he said, obtained their banking license by false pretenses, “through the use of suspicious and non-existent capital.”
Amid all the criminal accusations however, little progress has been made. Since 2017 when the UT and Capital banks became the first to go, it was only in 2019 that criminal prosecutions began.
The BoG, has meanwhile, raised the minimum capital for banks to GH¢400million and also limited the tenure for bank CEOs all in the bid to sanitise the sector.
Latest Stories
-
Let’s prioritize research quality in higher education institutions for industrial growth-Prof. Nathaniel Boso
47 mins -
Herman Suede is set to release ‘How Dare You’ on April 24
5 hours -
Heal KATH: Kuapa Kokoo, Association of Garages donate 120k to support project
5 hours -
KNUST signs MOU with Valco Trust Fund, Bekwai Municipal Hospital to build student hostel
5 hours -
The influence Ronaldo has on people, Cadman Yamoah will have same on the next generation – Coach Goodwin
6 hours -
Gender Advocate Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee Wins prestigious Merck Foundation Awards
7 hours -
South Africa bursary scandal suspects granted bail
7 hours -
Ecobank successfully repays $500m Eurobond due April 18
7 hours -
Re: Doe Adjaho, Torgbui Samlafo IV, call for Unity among Paramountcies in Anlo
7 hours -
Extortion and kidnap – a deadly journey across Mexico into the US
7 hours -
Rihanna says fashion has helped her personal ‘rediscovery’ after having children
7 hours -
Development Bank Ghana targets GH¢1bn funding for commercial banks in 2024
8 hours -
Shatta Movement apologises to Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled after backlash
8 hours -
Sammy Gyamfi writes: Tema-Mpakadan Railway Project; A railway line to nowhere
9 hours -
Bright Simons: Is the World Bank saving or harming Ghana?
9 hours