The Minority in Parliament has indicted the New Patriotic Party government led by President Akufo-Addo of conspiring with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to mastermind the collapse of privately owned businesses entity perceived to be sympathizers of the opposition, NDC.
This comes at the back after Bank of Ghana revoked the licence and downgraded some financial institutions respectively due to the perceived illegalities the firm are engaged in.
In a statement signed by the Ranking Member on parliament’s Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority indicated that, there has always been the suspicion that the NPP Government is hard on businesses owned by people who are perceived to be sympathizers of the former NDC Administration.
The recent development, the minority said, is the revocation of the licence of Heritage Bank Ghana on the grounds that its majority shareholder, Mr Seidu Agongo, failed the “fit and proper person” test because he was being prosecuted by the state in connection with a GHS271 million fertiliser scandal involving former Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) CEO Dr Stephen Opuni, and, thus, was “unsuitable” to run a bank in Ghana.
The Governor stated categorically that the funds used to acquire Heritage Bank’s license were derived from contracts awarded to Mr Agongo by COCOBOD which are currently the basis of criminal prosecution in the High Court of Ghana. For this reason, Mr Agongo is not fit and proper to own a bank in Ghana. Recall that the case also involves Dr Opuni, former CEO of COCOBOD.
According to the statement, it is gradually becoming evident that the just-ended banking sector clean-up has an inherent political motivation, adding that, Ghanaians will recall how the indebtedness of Government of Ghana to uniBank due to the failure of the NPP government to pay claims owed the Bank, resulted in the collapse of uniBank and several jobs were lost.
The minority in parliament stated that, the NPP government must be reminded that these businessmen or women are first Ghanaians and their businesses employ the citizens of our great nation, therefore, it is important to spare them the disastrous polarization and victimization that is engulfing our politics.
They stated emphatically that they are not against the sanitization of the financial sector but will resist any form of political oppression and victimization in any form. The minority made a call on the Government to stop the victimization, as implied by the Governor.
By: Gerrard-Israel
