Audio By Carbonatix
Former Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson has accused government of hiding critical information that explains why the European Union (EU) has blacklisted Ghana.
This comes after Ghana’s Embassy in Belgium was ordered by its banker to withdraw all its money to enable the bank close the embassy’s accounts.
Although the ING Bank did not give a specific reason for the decision to close the embassy’s accounts, it revealed the action is premised on Article 59 of the bank’s General Regulations and that the decision is irreversible.
In an interview on Joy FM’s NewsNite Monday, Mr Forson said since the EU blacklisted the country, government has said and done very little to tackle the situation.
According to him, government's approach towards the matter is indicative that they are keeping something from the people of Ghana.
“If you access the country that are on the list carefully, you will notice that countries that have been blacklisted are countries that are safe havens or countries that maybe at war or some form of terrorism. That should tell you that something fundamentally is missing and there is something the government is hiding from us.
“Why is it that government is not telling us the main reasons we are on the list in the first place? Sadly, the government is telling us very little,” he said.
The Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam MP further expressed disappointment in the Akufo-Addo-led administration for not handling the issue urgently.
In his opinion, the current situation might worsen, should government not take immediate action to rectify any anomalies.
“This is only going to get worse, in the sense that, when you [a country] are blacklisted, EU has its Head Office in Brussels which is in Belgium so institutions in Belgium will be the first to receive it before it extends to other countries.”
However, Kwaku Kwarteng, the Deputy Finance Minister, has stressed that government has implemented policies to get Ghana off the list by the end of 2020.
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