Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie, Chairman of the Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress in South Africa, has lashed out at the Akufo-Addo-led government, insisting that it is now bereft of ideas in running the country.
He premised his assertion on a number of facts, including what he said is the government’s undue influence in the affairs of the Central Bank, mismanaging it as the sole shareholder and plunging it into insolvency.
The Minority in Parliament has, for instance, given a 21-day ultimatum to the Central Bank’s Governor Dr. Ernest Addison and his two deputies on Tuesday to resign for superintending over what it termed unprecedented ¢60.8 billion loss last year which is equivalent to $6 billion.
“Anyone who understands the crucial role of the Bank of Ghana will be rightly worried about this development. It is a total disaster. Unless we take urgent and drastic action, the reckless, clueless and criminally minded NPP mismanagement of the economy have laid the final groundwork for the collapse of our financial system and the economy which will worsen the already horrible conditions of Ghanaians,” the Minority noted at a press conference.
Wading into the issue in an interview with ClassTV on Wednesday, Mr. Quashie further pointed to the Bank of Ghana’s flouting of its own Act, over the years, which bars it from advancing loans to government in excess of five percent of the government’s previous year’s revenue.
“It is clear that this governor has flouted every single governing rule he needed to adhere to,” Benjamin Quashie observed.
“You ask yourself where are we going; what did we do wrong to the AKufo-Addo-Bawumia government for them to milk this country? They have milked it dry, they have eaten everything and they don’t care about anything”.
The recently released Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Bank of Ghana noted that the Central Bank spent GHS131.6 million on motor vehicle maintenance and running in 2022, which is a 114% increase over the previous year’s expenditure.
Similarly, foreign and domestic travels of the Bank of Ghana cost the Ghanaian tax payer a staggering GHS97.4 million, which is about 246% increase over the previous year.
The Chairman of NDC South Africa Council of Elders wondered if the fleet of cars at the Central Bank are made up of “Jaguar or Rolls Royce” to require spending that whooping amount to maintain.
He was incensed that almost 850,000 Ghanaians have been pushed into poverty due to what the Minority calls government’s “recklessness and ineptitude”.
“Does the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration have any conscience left? In other jurisdictions they would have resigned and say that we promised to do this but we failed and missed the target.
“We will continue to hold this government accountable, irrespective of the media trying to change the agenda, we will continue to speak to the fact and we would let the Ghanaian people know that this government is the worst that we have had in the Fourth Republic,” he said.