A renowned Ghanaian economist has made a bold prediction that an election upset is on the cards for the ruling New Patriotic Party thanks to its alleged mishandling of the country’s current economic woes.
Quoted by the local media on Wednesday, Kwame Pianim said the banking and financial crises that have caused customers to either lose some or all of their deposits and investments as a result of the Bank of Ghana’s revocation of the licenses of nine local banks, 347 microfinance firms among others will go against the NNP in the December 2020 elections.
According to him, 23 savings and loans and some finance houses, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s halting of gold dealership firm Menzgold Company’s operations and the revocation of the licenses of 53 fund managers will all conspire against the poll fortunes of the NPP.
“There were some difficulties in the banks; who caused the problems? The Banking Supervision of the Bank of Ghana, which was complicit and then some individuals who the Bank of Ghana said were fit and proper people to be shareholders in the banks who decided to use their banking licence to steal people’s deposits to finance themselves. What have we done to them? They are on trial? How long has it taken us?” Dr.Pianim was quoted as saying by Citi FM in Accra.
The government, he said, has “spent a lot of taxpayers’ monies in order to pay for some of these difficulties”, adding: “We’ve been there before”.
He added: “When there were difficulties with the banks we formed a Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust.
“I have friends, decent people who have worked 70 years of their lives for this country, their pensions were put on deposit with some of these so-called distressed banks; they are now being asked to go to the receivers – you have one million, two million cedis that you were using the interest to finance yourself – they say go and collect GHS20, 000, GHS10, 000″.
He blamed the government for this adding that the customers have done nothing wrong.
“My suggestion was that: ‘Pay them’. Let the Bank of Ghana – even if it has to print money – because this is not inflationary, it is earned money; my earned money in the bank. So, you give me the deposit and the new bank is there, I can take it.
“But we are making it difficult for the NPP to win this election by stealing money from decent citizens – because that’s what you’re doing – you’re stealing money from them” he added.
“So, if we set up a Distressed Banks Assets Recovery Trust, then the Ghanaians would know that the monies we are paying to them, we are going to sell the assets of these people who stole their fixed deposits to repay and deduct from the taxpayer”, he told the radio station.
With the Menzgold matter, Dr. Pianim who is a key member of the NPP said: “The Nana Mensah CEO of the gold dealer company says he has assets in Dubai, if we set up a Menzgold Asset Recovery Trust, they’ll get hold of him, monies in Dubai, wherever he has them, retrieve them and pay these people. Why are we allowing Ghanaians to suffer?”
He added that the prosecution of some of the bank owners in an election year would be viewed as a political gimmick to woo voters.
DAP/as/APA