The Minority in Parliament is set to drag government and the management of the Agricultural Development Bank (adb) to the Supreme Court this week, over the bank’s failure to get Parliamentary approval for its plans to float shares on the stock exchange.
This comes on the back of the Attorney General’s endorsement of the bank’s decision to go public.
“The Ministry for Justice and Attorney Generals’ Department has explicitly indicated that a Parliamentary approval would not be required for the listing of the Bank on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). We trust that with this advice, we can now proceed with the necessary further action,” the letter from the Ministry of Finance clarified.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently gave ADB the approval to go ahead and offer its shares to the public.
The bank is expected to offload a little over 100 million shares to the public by the end of this month worth 75 percent of the Bank to raise about Ghc300 million.
But in an interview with Citi FM, counsel for the minority and Effutu MP, Alex Afenyo Markin stated that they disagree with the stance of the Attorney General, hence their decision to go to court.
“We still believe that the appropriate forum to interpret the law is the supreme court. We’re going to file and seek the court's intervention, but for now we are not saying that because the AG says so, that is sacrosanct and that is the perfect interpretation of the law. The AG’s opinion is very subjected and can never be at all times the correct position of the law.”
Meanwhile, President John Mahama has directed the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu to take steps to resolve the impasse.
“I have tasked the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations call an urgent meeting with the management and staff to resolve any misunderstanding existing,” he said.
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