Accra, Ghana, February 21, 2019//-Customers of Menzgold, the botched gold dealership firm, who switched on their television sets to watch Ghana President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) were shocked at the turn of events.
The customers, who were expecting Mr Akufo-Addo to announce a compensation package for them to ameliorate their plight following the closure of the company, were disappointed.
Some customers of Menzgold who spoke to African Eye Report immediately after the President finished delivering the address, said the President did not show sympathy to them in the address.
What the President said
Breaking his marathon silence on the matter, Mr Akufo-Addo referred to Menzgold as one of the rogue activities in the country’s financial sector and advised Ghanaians to learn from this “debacle”.
“This is a tragic phenomenon that appears to have occurred in plain sight, and affected a lot of people, in spite of warnings from official institutions” he said. He pledged to ensure that schemes created to swindle Ghanaians of their monies were nipped in the bud.
Why Menzgold collapsed
The government had ordered Menzgold, a gold dealership firm to stop operating which resulted in the locking out of customers’ investments. At the time of the incident, above 6000 people had invested their monies into the company.
Since the order last September, customers have used several tactics including court actions and mass demonstrations across the country to pressure on the government to get their deposits for them but to no avail.
Before the closure of the firm, several notices were issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG), but were ignore by the investing public.
Treat Menzgold investment victims as victims
Professor at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), John Gatsi, has therefore appealed to Ghanaians to treat Menzgold investment victims as victims and desist from using foul words to describe them.
In his own words: “Let investment victims be treated as victims and not with painful descriptions.
A social problem with young people, widows, prospective entrepreneurs and the aged have emerged, we should be willing to solve it”.
A Senior Fellow at the Centre for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS), Set Doe said it was saddened to read sections of the Ghanaian media ridicule the 60,000 Ghanaians whose monies had made some other Ghanaians richer.
“This conduct by sections of the media simply reflects how the Menzgold saga and other social problems have been narrowly misunderstood, especially in the media”, he added.
For months now, thousands of Menzgold customers are unable to access their investments after the SEC ordered its closure, due to its unregulated business model.
Earlier, this month, Menzgold had asked its staff to proceed on leave following increasing threats to its properties as well as staff of the company.
Menzgold has been unable to pay its clients their dividends due to an ongoing battle with SEC and the BoG over its operations. While the state institutions say the company has not been licensed to take deposits, Menzgold insists it does not take deposits and does not answer to the two institutions.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah popularly known as NAM1, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates where he is reportedly standing trial for a different offence.
African Eye Report
