The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has assured depositors whose funds have been locked up in regulated but defunct financial institutions of full restitution of their funds.
Speaking at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as part of the two-day Government Townhall Meeting and Results Fair in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, on Tuesday, 11th February, 2020, Vice President Bawumia said Government empathises with depositors, who have endured anguish and hardships through no fault of theirs.
In 2019 the Bank of Ghana, in a series of moves to clean up the weak and messy financial sector, revoked the licences of a number of banks, microfinance and savings and loans companies, leading to an unfortunate loss of jobs and in some cases, the locking up of depositors’ funds.
To assuage their pain, government has pledged to restore 100% of their locked up funds, once they have been verified. In a further move to address residual pain from previous collapses, Government will secure the funds and pay up the victims of DKM, who lost part of their investments after the Bank of Ghana suspended the operations of the DKM in 2015, Vice President Bawumia added.
The Vice President accused the previous government of playing the Ostrich, burying its head in the sand and papering over the cracks, which were noticeable as far back as 2012.
“We (Akufo-Addo government) inherited a financial system that was weak and fragile with several institutions that had collapsed or were on the verge of collapse. The Bank of Ghana in cleaning up and strengthening the financial sector, revoked the licenses of many banks, savings and loans and microfinance companies. Some have criticized the action of the central bank for a variety of reasons.
“(But) first of all, let us remember that the failures of financial institutions that we have witnessed recently, were a direct result of a system of poor licensing, non-existent capital, weak corporate governance characterized by related party transactions, political influence peddling, cronyism, among other things.
“The NDC government and the previous management of the Bank of Ghana had ample time to address impending failures. They were aware of the problems in 2015 in the case of banks and as far back as 2012 in the case of savings and loans and micro finance companies. Even in opposition, I alerted the country that on the basis of available data, 8 banks were likely to collapse but they refused to act,” Vice President Bawumia recalled.
“The swift and decisive action taken by the new management team at the Bank of Ghana provided relief for the financial system as a whole through the funds provided by Government for depositor payouts
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The NPP should not forget that the customers of the Fund Management Companies also have their funds locked up. The Finance Minister and Dr. Bawumia are only talking about Microfinance and Savings & Loans Companies. If they are paying 100% of deposits to customers of Microfinance and Savings & Loans Companies, then they should do same for customers of Fund Management Companies too since both were all under regulation of the State. There would be no justification not to pay 100% of funds for customers of Fund Management Companies. I urge all Customers of the Fund Management Companies not to relax but rise up for what is rightfully theirs.
This guy is not to be believed. Even DKM's customers have not been fully paid for God knows how long. What will it take to verify? Or they are still verifying DKM customers? These politicians they think we have petrol in our skulls!
Good job! Dr. Bawumia, when you sneeze NDC shakes and for that reason they will be in opposition for a very long time. Bring on the New voters register. What ever they have planed will fail.