Member of Parliament for Bawku Central has said that the country’s financial woes and the Bank of Ghana’s 2022 record GH¢60.8 billion loss can be attributed to reckless spending.
Speaking on PM Express, Mahama Ayariga stated that despite the country’s economic crises the BoG is spending over $200 million on a new office complex.
He also dismissed claims of Covid-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war having an effect on the country alleging that the government has been spending money as it pleases and creating waste.
“Look at what they are doing about the construction of the new head office building and that tells you exactly what has led us to where we are today. Reckless spending of public money. We’re not even talking about some other agents, we’re talking about the central bank itself using over $250 million to construct office space in the midst of all this suffering.”
“It is across the entire government that there is reckless spending, there is waste, there is massive looting and corruption. And at a certain point, the public payers cannot bear the level of looting and stealing that is taking place. So they will have to go and then borrow and come and then loot and borrow and come and loot to a point where the international financial market is no longer even able to accommodate us when we come to borrow,” Mr Mahama said.
He noted that despite the numerous promises made to the people of Ghana, the government are unable to fulfil them and rather placed on citizens taxes that are affecting business and standard of living.
“You go to our ports, and when you are importing one item, you have so many taxes and levies. People pass through Ivory Coast, and they find a way of getting the goods into the country because the taxes are just excessive. So all across the system there is a lapse and the central bank has played a role because they failed to hold the line,” the Bawku Central MP said.
This follows the NDC’s demonstration on Tuesday, in Accra, to demand the removal of the central bank Governor and his deputies for mismanaging the bank.
Although the protesters were prevented from accessing the central bank on the basis that it is a security zone, the leadership of the party including the MPs were allowed access to present their petition to the governor.
However, a man who identified himself as the Head of Security at the Bank appeared to receive the petition with the excuse that the BoG Governor was in a meeting with officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The protestors have vowed to return to the central bank with their petition.
However, banking consultant Nana Otuo Acheampong who disagrees with Mr Ayariga says that the 2022 BoG loss was abnormal and beyond the control of the central bank as a result of the Domestic Dept Exchange Programme.
He explained that a DDEP is not a yearly occurrence and as such the BoG does not stand to lose such a huge sum of money continuously in the years to come.