The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has blamed the collapse of some financial institutions on reckless borrowing of government appointees to finance their 2016 campaign.  

While calling for a full-scale investigation into the circumstances leading to the collapsed of the banks, they urged senior government appointees indebted to the collapsed banks service their indebts.

“We are also calling on all those NPP government officials, some of them strangely very senior, who have taken large sums of money from some of the collapsed banks apparently to support their political campaigns in 2016, to do well to refund those monies to the Receiver so that depositors could be paid promptly,” the statement addressed by Bolgatanga Central Constituency MP, Isaac Adongo said.

 The central bank has closed over 300 microfinance companies as the last phase of its clean-up of the financial sector.

In August 2018, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licences of uniBank Ghana Limited, The Royal Bank Limited, Beige Bank Limited, Sovereign Bank Limited, and Construction Bank Limited. 

In 2017, UT Bank and Capital Bank doors were closed permanently, as BoG explained that the banks were “unable to develop an acceptable plan.”

The minority assets that the banking sector cleanup has brought untold hardship on Ghanaians and immediate steps must be taken to address the attending hardship.

“There is no question about the fact that the banking sector issues and the closure of 9 banks, 347 microfinance and microcredit institutions and the latest 23 savings and loans institutions and finance houses have brought untold economic hardships as well as severe social costs to many Ghanaians. 

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that about 4,500 people lost their jobs as a result of the closures of the universal banks alone. Another 4,000 just lost their jobs as well, due to the closure of 23 savings and loans institutions and finance houses; while a whopping 17,350 people are estimated to have also lost their jobs as a result of the closure of the 347 Microfinance institutions,” they added.

The full statement is posted below