BoG right to decline parliament's invitation - Banking Consultant
Dr Richmond Atuahene, Banking Consultant
• A banking consultant says the decision by the central bank to decline the invitation by parliament to respond to questions on defunct uniBank and UT Bank was a step in the right decision
Read full article• According to him the BoG acted per the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, Act 930
• He urged the country to adopt a proper mechanism to address the issue citing England as an example
A banking consultant, Dr Richmond Atuahene has stated that the Bank of Ghana made the right decision to have declined an invitation by Parliament to assist with investigations into the revocation of the banking licenses of defunct uniBank and UT Bank.
Per the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, Act 930 the central bank has the power to decline such invitation.
Speaking in an interview with JoyNews monitored by the GhanaWeb, Dr Atuahene said it was wrong for Parliament to summon the Central Bank even though, the case is still in court.
“The Bank of Ghana was only referring to the BSDI 2016, Act 930, stating the fact that the law in sections 140, 141, 142,143 explicitly states that the resolution process and arbitration. So I believe the Bank of Ghana lawyers were only stating the fact of the law not to appear before parliament.
"Ideally what parliament should have done after all this hullabaloo is when the dust has settled, then they will take a critical review of what happened in the sector. What did we do? What could we have done which we didn’t do? And possibly improve the legal side of it. That would have been one of the best things that would have happened to this country,” he said.
He further stated that “it is not in the peak of the case in court that the Bank of Ghana will be summoned to parliament.”
Dr Atuahene said a similar issue happened in England but a committee was set up to look into what happened after the dust had settled.
“In England, they allowed the dust to settle and then appointed and selected a committee to look at what happened. What could have been done? What we didn’t do? It is not in the middle of the court issue that one is required by the Bank of England to respond to an invitation.
"It is when the dust has settled, a year or a year later when the law has taken its own course then the parliamentary select committee in the UK…we call it the treasury select committee, which would look at what happened, the ramification and what should have been done which we didn’t do,” he said
