Accra, Ghana, January 17, 2019//-Former 2nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama has made a very shocking revelation on why he “resigned from the central bank”.
This startling revelation was provoked by what he described as unfounded allegations made by one Omarie Waadie, 3rd National Vice Chairman of governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Joy News, an Accra-based radio station.
But in a very swift rebuttal, Dr Asiama has for the first time revealed that, he was called by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Ata and told that, President Nana Addo said he needed to appoint his (Nana Addo’s) own man into that position.
Even though there are no clear reasons assigned to the President’s desire to get him out of Bank of Ghana and to appoint his own man, it coincided with a period when the the former 2nd Deputy Governor was leading a regulatory team to work and put MENZGOLD under regulatory compliance to prevent unsuspecting Ghanaians from being duped.
In a sharp statement issued, the immaculate banker bares out his professional/official engagement with Menzgold and said: “As someone who held high office, I hesitate to talk openly about such things, but I am compelled in the circumstances to explain the issues particularly about my resignation from office, for purposes of clarity”
Here are some details contained in his statement
Somewhere around August 2017, I led a team of Bank of Ghana staff to appear before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to respond to certain issues in the Auditor Generals 2016 Report. The report had nothing to do with MENZGOLD.
During the deliberations however, an MP asked about the status of MENZGOLD and enquired whether we were regulating their activities. I took time to explain to the meeting that we were not regulating MENZGOLD and we had not licensed them to accept deposits from the Public.
Hence the Bank of Ghana would not be liable to anyone who engaged in any such business with them. I further explained that they had a license issued by the Minerals Commission (and PMMC) to buy and export gold; and hence we couldn’t just storm their premises to lock them down.
I was then the Supervising Governor for the Other Financial Institutions Supervisory Department (OFSD) that regulated the Microfinance institutions.
About a week after, I called a meeting with leadership of the other regulators (PMMC, Minerals Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and we took a number of decisions to address the MENZGOLD issue.
Unfortunately there were sudden changes in leadership in all the three (3) institutions (SEC, Minerals Commission, and PMMC) the same week, and hence I decided to reconvene the meeting at a later date.
I then requested a meeting with MENZGOLD, and their lawyer and two other staff came to my office. During the discussions, I realized that they did not appear to understand what they were doing.
I took time to explain to them that the products they were offering (apart from the gold exports) were all akin to Ponzi schemes.
At the end of the meeting, they understood and they appealed to me to help them restructure so that BoG could regulate them. I told them they had to apply for a financial institutions license (in the minimum) before we could engage them.
In the meantime, I instructed that they halt the Bullion Banking products and to advertise in the newspapers to that effect, which they subsequently did.
Staff of OFSD were present in that meeting and I instructed that they visit the company and to inspect their vaults. I was particularly interested in the safety of the database, learning from the DKM experience.
Hence, I told them to ensure that MENZGOLD had data backups and to also obtain copies for our keeps. My plan was to check whether the value of gold in their vaults was equivalent to the monies they had received through their sister company, BREW MARKETING.
Unfortunately, that same week was when I was called by the Minister for Finance and told that the President had decided to replace me with his own person, which I obliged.
Certainly, if my efforts had continued even after my exit, we would have succeeded in restructuring MENZGOLD or resolving them entirely before end-2017.
I therefore wish to emphasize again that my engagement with MENZGOLD officials prior to my exit was in line with my responsibilities as the Supervising Governor for OFSD which supervised the non-bank financial institutions such as the Microfinance Institutions. Clearly, if someone had followed through with what I started, we perhaps wouldn’t be here today.
Observers however think that, the president was uncomfortable with the regulatory structure that he had designed and being rolled out to reign in, the NPP 2016 top financier (NAM1) who needed to recoup his investment in Nana Addo’s campaign.
“Social Media News”* on the other hand wants to know why the president didn’t allow Dr Asiamah’s successors continue with what had been started?
Is Bank of Ghana really independent?
Where is the autonomy when the president can just intervene at will and cause changes whimsically to achieve his caprices.
This can only lend credence to the general believe that, there’s more than meet the eyes in the so-called banking sector reforms.
The situation where some people were not needed in the Apex regulator before the the roll out of some programs is worrying.
African Eye Report
