The Minority in Parliament has told the police that they want the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, to receive their petition in person.
The NDC MPs say they want the embattled Governor to feel their disappointment and anger for his incompetence and mismanagement of the central bank.
This is according to the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga.
The former Information Minister disclosed this to the media after their meeting with the police on Wednesday, August 23.
They have, thus, asked the police to relay their demand to him before the scheduled date for the protest.
“One of the key issues in our demand, when we met with the police, is that we want the governor to be the one to receive our petition and that is why we must march to the Central Bank building itself so that he can come down and receive the petition himself.
“And we insisted on that position, and so I believe the police will convey our demands to him and I believe that he will make himself available.”
The demonstration, which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 5, follows their demand for the resignation of the Governor and his deputies over the losses the central bank recorded in 2022.
According to them, their demonstrations are based on the central bank’s illegal printing of over GH¢80 billion to the Akufo-Addo government.
“We write in line with sections,1 2&3 of the Public Order Act 1994 (Act 491), to notify you of an impending public protest to be embarked upon by the Minority in Parliament in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations, Progressive Forces and other well-meaning Ghanaians.”
“The purpose of this protest is to express our revulsion against the illegal printing of money (about GH¢ 80 billion) between 2021 and 2022 by BoG for the corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government which led to a hyper-inflation rate of 54.1% in December 2022,” excerpts of the letter said.
According to them, this conduct by the BoG has pushed some 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty.
“This singular act of BOG has negatively impacted livelihoods and businesses and pushed about 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty in the year 2022 alone.”
“As representatives of the Ghanaian people, the Minority in Parliament is totally disgusted by the crass mismanagement and reckless mishandling of the affairs of the Bank of Ghana, which resulted in a gargantuan loss of GH¢60.8 billion and a negative equity of GH¢5.1 billion in 2022, with its attendant hardships on Ghanaians,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has explained that the central bank did not provide funding for the government until 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic and after investors in the capital market declined from lending to the government.
According to him, the central bank strictly adhered to the zero financing of government expenditure until the economic difficulties set in last year.
But the NDC MPs will have none of his excuses.
