Patrick Boamah, Member of Parliament for Okaikoi Central, says the petition before Parliament on the collapse of uniBank and UT Bank would have little impact because the house lacks the authority to interfere in the matter.
He told Eyewitness News that Parliament is unable to act on matters that are pending before courts of competent jurisdiction under its standing orders, so it is surprising that Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, will lead the charge for the petition to be accepted and for Parliament to act on it.
“You are asking Parliament to look into this petition without having the capacity” Patrick Boamah observed.
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He said, “the matter is sub judice, and if you look at our laws, it is clear that any matter that is before a court of competent jurisdiction, Parliament cannot look into.”
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, Parliament approved proposals for the establishment of a seven-member committee to investigate the concerns raised in a petition brought before the house by two majority shareholders in banks impacted by the financial sector clean-up.
The Speaker made the proposal after MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, officially submitted the petitions on the floor on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Two people, Prince Kofi Amoabeng and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, petitioned Parliament to investigate the actions of the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Stock Exchange in revoking UT Bank and UniBank’s licenses and delisting them from the country’s stock exchange.
However, according to Patrick Boamah, the most reasonable action to take in relation to the bank’s failure is to go to court, which the two petitioners have already done, and therefore the petition before Parliament is futile and of no consequence, because Parliament eventually cannot overturn the decision to revoke the two banks’ licenses.
“If [Mahama] Ayariga is sneaking in with a petition, the question is, what is he hoping to gain? I believe he is wasting my uncle and senior brother’s [Duffour and Kofi Amoabeng] time because, if the committee is formed and the report is made, will the house be able to reverse the revocation or support the Central Bank’s decision? “We don’t have that kind of power,” he explained.
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
