Your Interest in Kickbacks Weakened Ghana's Banking Sector - Wontumi Tells Mahama

The Ashanti regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party has notified former President Mahama to eat the humble pie and accept that his incomptence and failure to exert his authority on his appointees who once managed the economy of Ghana, led to the banking crisis.

Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako noted that under the watch of former President Mahama, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) conducted asset quality reviews on specific local banks and the rippling effect of that operation, is what has been realized in subsequent years.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi recalled that in a state of a nation address delivered by former President Mahama in 2016, he mentioned that the banking sector under his watch was crumbling due to poor supervision from the BoG.

During the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2016, former President Mahama told Members of Parliament (MPs) that operations of some microfinance companies could be badly affected due to poor supervision.

A portion of his address read “Mr Speaker, over the past five years, there has been a proliferation of microfinance companies. These companies come under the direct supervision of the Bank of Ghana.

“Unfortunately, lack of effective supervision has resulted in many cases in which microfinance companies licensed by Bank of Ghana have breached the rules and created supposed pyramid schemes that have eventually come crashing down.”

The above statement according to Chairman Wontumi makes it inappropriate for former President Mahama and the NDC to blame the Akufo-Addo led government of crippling the banking sector.

"Mahama was interested in kickbacks and this weakened banking sector" Chairman Wontumi said. 

In 2015-16, the BoG conducted asset quality reviews on certain local banks and identified financial concerns, some of which would become realized in the next year.

By August 2017, the BoG had revoked the licences of two local banks: UT Bank and Capital Bank. It stated publicly that the two banks were “heavily deficient in capital and liquidity, and their continuous operation exposed the financial system to instability and depositors’ funds to risks”.