The main reason behind the demonstration by the Minority to demand the resignation of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, and his two deputies has been revealed.
According to reports, the protest dubbed: OccupyBoG by the Minority in Parliament was due to personal vendetta to settle personal scores.
National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) led by Minority leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, claimed the protest was against what it calls mismanagement at the Central Bank that has culminated in massive losses and subsequently taken a toll on the Ghanaian economy.
But this position by the Minority, according to a communications team member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alfred Thompson, is just a smokescreen.
He explained that Dr Ato Forson and the NDC just want to get back at the BoG Governor for abrogating a contract the NDC government awarded to Sibton Switch Limited for the Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure (interoperability) when he [Ato Forson] was a Board member of the Central Bank.
Background
Following the 2016 elections and the appointment of a new Management of the Bank of Ghana, it became necessary to review the terms of the contract entered into by the previous administration.
Per the agreement, Sibton Switch was granted the exclusive rights to build, operate and own the Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure.
But when Governor Addison and his management reviewed the terms of the contract, it emerged that Sibton had neither acquired the licence nor fulfilled the condition precedent for the effectiveness of the rights and obligations of the parties.
The contract awarded to Sibton Switch was one-sided in favour of Sibton Switch and was severely detrimental to the interests of the Bank of Ghana.
Sibton Switch was demanding $1.2billion which is equivalent to GH¢4.6billion which was a rip off on BoG.
In addition, the tender price of Sibton Switch was more than 33 times more expensive than the next most expensive bid.
BoG under the leadership of Dr Ernest Addison terminated the contract with Sibton Switch in 2017 and awarded it to its subsidiary, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS), which was able to deliver mobile payment systems interoperability at a small fraction of the cost, saving the Ghanaian taxpayers billions.
Court suit
Sibton Switch Systems Limited then sued the Bank of Ghana at the London International Court of Arbitration (LCIA) for abrogating the contract.
The company was seeking $478million equivalent to GH¢2.6million as compensation.
But the Tribunal ruled in favour of the Bank of Ghana and it also ordered Sibton Switch to pay the legal fees and cost of the arbitration of the Central Bank.
Hatred for Dr Ernest Addison
Due is the abrogation of the Sibton Switch, Alfred Thompson alleged that, the NDC and Dr. Ato Forson in particular lost a substantial amount of money.
This, he said it is the genesis of the NDC’s hatred for the BoG Governor hence the decision to force him out of office.
But having saved Ghana huge sums of money, Mr Thompson said it will be unfair for Dr Addison to be sacked or forced to resign just to satisfy Ato Forson’s parochial interest.
He has therefore mounted a spirited defense and backed it with facts and figures.
Achievements under Dr. Ernest Addison
Ghana’s gold reserves in 2016 when NDC was existing power was 8.7 tonnes. When Dr Addison took over, he has been able to increase it to 15.1 tonnes under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
Central Banking’s FinTech Policy of the Year Award 2022. This follows the Bank’s remarkable development of a Supervisory Intelligence Platform, which aims to streamline the collection and analysis of granular data from regulated FinTechs.
The Bank also in 2021 received an award for Outstanding Leadership in Corporate Governance and Regulatory Excellence
Most recently, the Bank won the Financial Inclusion Institutional Leadership Award 2023 of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI).
Based on this backdrop, Alfred Thompson urged Ghanaians not to fall for the NDC’s
“You are saying that the Bank has deteriorated but Addison won these awards so where has he gone wrong? he quizzed.
Mr. Thompson said it was obvious Dr. Addison had done no wrong but the Minority led by Dr. Ato Forson just wanted to cause the displeasure of Dr. Addison, Vice President, Dr. Bawumia and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.