The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has rubbished calls by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Minority caucus in Parliament for him to resign.
Dr Addison in an interview with international business website, Central Banking, said he is not stepping down, describing the protesting Minority MPs and NDC members as “hooligans” and the OccupyBoG demo as “completely unnecessary.”
The protest was held on Tuesday to denounce the economic crisis as a result of what the protesters termed poor monetary policy by the BoG.
Addison also rejected the claims by the Minority that he printed money to finance the lavish lifestyle of the ruling government.
According to him, the BoG provided monetary financing during 2020 and 2022, to meet specific crises which he says is legal under the central bank law.
The Central Bank posted losses totalling GHC60.81 billion for the 2022 financial year as against a profit of GHC1.23 billion recorded in 2021.
The losses were a result of the government’s domestic debt restructuring activities and the depreciation of the cedi, among other effects.
Regarding the central bank’s 2022 losses, Addison told Central Banking: “The impairment of the bank’s holdings of debt which led to the losses was a conditionality for the IMF programme. Nobody at the Bank of Ghana forgave any debt.”
The governor also clarified that the BoG decided to start the new headquarters in 2019. This was “when the bank was profitable and appropriated some of its profits for the new headquarters,” he said. “It was not a decision taken during a crisis.”
“The Minority in parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” Addison added in reference to the #OccupyBoGProtest.
Meanwhile, a member of the Minority Caucus, Mahama Ayariga said the MPs and NDC went through all the necessary civil processes before finally arriving at a decision to protest. So if upon all that the BoG Governor could describe them as hooligans then he should wait and see how hooligans behave.
He noted that Dr. Ernest Addison has only displayed the arrogance of power in his comments and he will get the appropriate response he deserves.
