Some financial experts have criticised the Directors of the seven collapsed indigenous banks (Beige Bank, Capital Bank, Royal Bank, UT Bank, The Construction Bank, Sovereign Bank and Unibank) for their negligence and unlawful capital access but, some members of the Finance Committee in Parliament hold different views.
Member of Parliament for Yapei-Kusawgu and a member of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Mr. John Jinapor, has indicated that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is solely responsible for the crisis in the banking sector, leading to the collapse of the seven indigenous banks.
Speaking to a group of journalists in Parliament, Mr. Jinapor stated that the responses of BoG indicated that they failed in their oversight responsibility to ensure that the banking rules were being complied with by the banks.
“Per the answers given by the Governor of the Central Bank to the questions on the circumstances leading to the banking crisis, clearly, the fault ought to be put at the doorstep of the Bank of Ghana and not any other person. Any other thing that is followed up is consequential on the fact that the Bank of Ghana failed to do due diligence to enforce the law. I think if there is anybody to be held responsible, it ought to be the Bank of Ghana themselves, because clearly at the meeting, it is obvious that they failed to implement the law to the letter. There was some level of complexity and laxity”, he added.
Expressing his sentiments, Mr. Jinapor reiterated that the Finance Committee is in the dark, regarding the fate of workers of the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG).
“As we speak we don’t know the fate of the workers whether they are going to be guaranteed employment for one month or three months while they search for employment,” he averred.
According to Mr. Jinapor, the Committee’s attempt to get the Central Bank’s Governor to make a definite statement on the employment status of the CBG staff was unsuccessful.
His comments came to light after the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Ernest Addison and some officials of the Finance Ministry appeared before the Finance Committee of Parliament to answer questions on the circumstances, leading to the collapse of the banks.
The Finance Committee’s proceedings
The Finance Committee of Parliament’s hearings started from September 5 and will end on September 7, 2018.
The committee has been meeting on the current banking crisis that has seen seven banks in the country collapse within a space of 12 months for reasons including poor corporate governance, negligence and failure of oversight responsibility.
The institutions to appear before the Committee for the three-day hearing are Bank of Ghana, Consolidated Bank, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Ministry of Finance.
Owners and Directors of the seven collapsed banks will not be invited, according to the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah.
Despite numerous petitions to the Speaker to open up the process and make it public, the hearing is proceeding in camera.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
