Hold your applause for BoG; demand more action – GIMPA lecturer

With $1bn pumped to protect depositors following the collapse of seven banks, law lecturer Clara Kowlaga Beeri Kasser-Tee believes it is too soon to applaud the Bank of Ghana.

Clara Kasser-Tee has contested praises going to Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Governor Ernest Addison after he withdrew the licences of struggling banks.

“I am trying to have the level of confidence that a lot people are showing that BoG is trying to do the right thing…unfortunately I really can’t find legitimate grounds for that confidence,” she said on Joy News’ Saturday morning show Newsfile.

The GIMPA law lecturer said the banks collapsed because compliance culture at the regulator, the BoG, also collapsed. It therefore must be of concern if it has had to take a new governor to ensure that banking regulations are enforced.

“This did not happen on the blind side of the Bank of Ghana. What did they do with those powers?” she said. The non-compliance of bank rules happened under Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah who was governor from 2012 to March 2016 and Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku who took over from April 2016 and resigned a year later.

BoG Governors

It was the current Governor who was appointed under a new government of President Akufo-Addo that announced the withdrawal of the licences of seven banks in 12 months.

But the private legal practitioner has indicated that to personalise the praise or criticisms, is to personalise the issues.

She said Ghanaians cannot keep depending on “angels” to do the right thing and explained our only hope must always be in strong systems.

Kasser-Tee said shareholders and directors at the failed banks failed to comply with directives from the BoG because they had a “belief and expectation of non-enforcement.”

The Newsfile panelist said beyond withdrawing the licences, the BoG must come out to tell Ghanaians the steps it has been taken to strengthen systems.

The bank authorities must explain how the administrative lapses happened and also which officers were involved as well as what punitive measures it is taking against these officials.

“I still haven’t heard anything addressing the core issue,” she added.

Clara Kasser-Tee said without accountability, democracy can never reach its touted potential of development and progress.

Credit: myjoyonline