The Minority in Parliament has asked Dr Johnson Asiamah, the President’s appointee as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), to keep away from the Bank until his selection is approved by the Council of State.
According to the Minority, the appointment required the President’s consultation with the Council of State.
At a media briefing yesterday in Accra, the NPP Member of Parliament for Tano North, Gideon Boako, said “this means that Dr Johnson Asiamah cannot legally operate as the Governor until such consultation with the Council of State has taken place.”
The MP said contrary to this constitutional imperative, Dr Asiamah has made attempts to resume work at the BoG, “as if he is legally qualified when Council of State has not yet been constituted.”
Dr Boako noted “those of us from the minority side through our leader have officially written to the President pointing out the illegality on the actions by Dr Asiama. We are hoping the right thing is done. He had gone to the Bank of Ghana, and to all intents and purposes, behaving as the Governor and having meetings with various people”.
He said that “supposing the Council of State, when constituted, doesn’t approve the President’s appointment of Dr Asiamah, what would be done about his presence and activities at the Bank of Ghana in the interim?
Dr Boako said that the minority was not against the appointment, but was concerned about his past actions as Deputy Governor of BoG for which he was standing trial for various criminal offenses, including fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, conspiracy to commit crime, and violations of the BoG Act.
Dr Boako said that the fact that charges against Dr Asiamah were dropped by the Minister of the State, does not mean he has been absolved of the crime, saying “these charges can be brought back under a different government”.
He said: “It is also instructive to note that Dr Asiamah was Deputy Governor at the time when the decision was taken to revoke the licences of UT Bank and Capital Bank, and had every opportunity to propose any other strategy for addressing the insolvency of the said banks, but rather doled out large amounts of public funds to failed institutions whose shareholders dissipated these funds on private ventures at the expense of depositors, employees, taxpayers, and other claimants.”
Dr Boako noted that it was even more crucial at a point where Ghana is under an IMF programme and requires absolute credibility in our dealings with the IMF.
He said “We wish to draw the attention of the IMF to these disturbing developments from the government”, and called for strict scrutiny in their dealings with Dr Asiamah “such that his actions or inactions do not lead us to any inconvenient destinations as far as our financial ecosystem is concerned.”
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
