A labour expert, Austin Gamey has said the Bank of Ghana should take a bigger chunk of the blame for distressed state of two banks which have been taken over by the GCB Bank.

He said for a regulator, that takes periodic reports from all commercial banks, it should have known UT Bank and the Capital Bank were in red.

The two banks were taken over Monday by the GCB Bank in such dramatic fashion.

Employees of the two banks reported to work to begin what was expected to be another day in UT and Capital Banks, only to be held up at the entrance for several hours before finally being allowed to enter into the banks as workers of GCB Bank and not as UT or Capital.

A total of some 990 workers of the two banks are believed to have been affected by the takeover.

Depositors of the two banks have been worried with many rushing to the various branches to withdraw their monies.

The affected banks were expected to open for business at 1:00 pm and close later at 6:00pm.

Many reasons have been given for the collapse of the two banks with non-performing loans believed to be the most significant.

Discussing the matter on Joy Newsnite programme with Emefa Apawu, the Labour Expert believed if BoG offered proper supervision, perhaps the two banks would have been saved.

Austin Gamey

He was however in support of the secretive manner in which the takeover was handled until the takeover was executed today.

He said in the early 90s a similar takeover occurred with some three banks being affected and the shoddy manner in which it was handled led to people collapsing.

He said people could easily have died out of a panic situation if the takeover had been handled in a different way.

With some 990 workers said to be affected, the labour expert said workers everywhere must be made aware of the possibility of “a legal severance of relationship” between them and their companies.

He said if they are made aware, they will not be completely taken by surprise when such takeovers happen.

Notice necessary

Prof Peter Quartey

But a Lecturer with the University of Ghana, Prof Peter Quartey was unhappy with the way workers of the two companies were handled in the takeover.

“There should have been some notice to the staff,” he pointed out but was in vehement support of the takeover.

He was convinced if the BoG had not taken over the two banks, depositors would have been the biggest losers in the end.

Among other reasons, Prof Quartey attributed the collapse of the banks to the energy crisis which affected businesses and led to a slowdown in economy.

As a result, he said many businesses could not pay back the loans they took.

He also blamed those who “borrow and default with impunity,” for the sad state of affairs.