BoG Not Mandated To Report To Parliament – Majority Leader2 min read

The BoG participated in the debt restructuring exercise to share some of the burden the DDE places on government debt holders, along with banks, other financial institutions, pension funds and individuals.

The Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has since hit the roof, accusing the handlers of the central bank of mismanagement, amid calls for the governor and his deputies to resign from office.

“We call for the resignation of the governor of the central bank and his deputies within 21 days,” he said, and added, “We are resolved to embark on popular action to occupy the central bank and drive out the team of inept, callous and criminal mismanagers of the finances of this country and save the Bank of Ghana.”

But the Majority Leader said his counterpart was only engaging in politics, insisting that no law requires the central to report its daily operations to Parliament.

Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the role of the central bank in the national economy is known to his Minority counterpart, who is a former Deputy Minister of Finance.

According to him, the economy would have collapsed if the BoG had not intervened by bailing out the government with its international reserves.

“We should not treat everything with politics; we shouldn’t make everything about NPP and NDC,” Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also the NPP MP for Suame, said.

He continued, “Ato Forson should have known better because he has previously served as Deputy Minister of Finance and is familiar with the operations of the Bank of Ghana. As a result, politicising BoG matters is bad for the country.”

“There is no law that mandates the BoG to report its daily activities to Parliament. The law only mandates the BoG to report foreign exchange receipts to Parliament, and the BoG has always complied with this provision. The BoG does not report directly to Parliament,” he stressed.

“The constitution says that if you pass any law that is inconsistent with the constitution, that law is null and void. It’s either the Minority are over exaggerating issues or have not had time to examine the facts of the matter,” he intimated.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has absolved the BoG from accusation of mismanagement as a result of the loss of GH¢60 billion.

The Bretton Woods institution believes accusation of mismanagement on the part of the central bank is far-fetched, and corroborated the BoG’s explanation on how the negative equity came about.

It noted that the BoG participated in the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) to share some of the burden the DDE places on government debt holders, along with banks, other financial institutions, pension funds and individuals.

By Ernest Kofi Adu