Majority Leader Criticizes Minority’s Street Protest, Calls for Parliamentary Approach

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has voiced his opposition to the street protest organized by the Minority caucus and indicated that the Majority would not support any motion to invite the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, to Parliament.

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Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu argued that instead of holding a street protest, the Minority could have invited Dr. Addison to Parliament to respond to questions regarding the new headquarters building and the GHS60.8 billion loss incurred by the bank.

He suggested that the protest prejudiced the Governor and raised doubts about whether the Minority would be receptive to Dr. Addison’s explanations during a parliamentary session.

“We are Members of Parliament; we could have invited the Governor to come and talk about the issues that are not clear to us. You go on a demonstration and organize a press conference against the man; then you come back to Parliament to move the motion [to invite him].

Do you want me to support that?” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated during an interview with TV3.

The Minority had called for Dr. Addison’s resignation, along with that of his two deputies, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari and Elsie Addo Awadzi, citing mismanagement as the reason.

Despite initially giving the three governors a 21-day ultimatum to resign, the Minority decided to take to the streets when the deadline passed.

They accused the Bank of Ghana of constructing a new headquarters at a cost of over $200 million while recording financial losses and of writing off government debt and overprinting cash for government expenditures against the Bank of Ghana Act.

Dr. Addison, in response to the protest, stated that it was “completely unnecessary” and that neither he nor his deputies had any intention of stepping down.

He also defended the decision to construct the new headquarters, explaining that it was made in 2019 when the bank was profitable and allocated some of its profits for the project.

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