Vice President and the 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has strongly criticized former President John Mahama for his comments regarding the 2017 banking sector clean-up.
During a meet-the-press event yesterday, Dr. Bawumia suggested that Mr. Mahama lacks a proper understanding of the complexities involved in the financial sector overhaul.
Responding to Mr. Mahama’s recent promise to revisit the closure of several financial institutions and potentially restore their licenses if he wins the 2024 election, Dr. Bawumia was unequivocal in his defense of the government’s actions.
“We saved the deposits of 4.6 million bank depositors who were at risk of losing their savings if those banks had not been rescued,” Dr. Bawumia asserted.
He questioned whether the former president had taken the time to fully grasp the situation, stating, “I don’t understand whether the former president has taken his time to actually understand what happened in the banking sector. Some atrocious things happened, and this is why these banks had to be saved.”
Dr. Bawumia emphasized that the government’s intervention was necessary to protect the deposits of millions of customers, highlighting the severe financial misconduct that plagued many of the affected banks.
He noted that several banks had exceeded legal lending limits and misused capital for private investments, leading to a deterioration in their financial health revealing, “Some of the banks broke all the rules and extended loans way above the single obligor limits, adding that without the government’s decisive action, the entire banking system could have collapsed.”
The Vice President urged Mr. Mahama to review the reports from the Receiver and the Bank of Ghana before making further statements on the issue noting that, “I’ll ask the former president, if he hasn’t read, to go and read the receiver’s report or to go and read the Bank of Ghana report and acquaint himself before making any further comments on matters he clearly does not understand.”
Dr. Bawumia also touched on broader governance reforms, including the restructuring of the public sector and internal audit functions, proposing reviewing Article 286 of the Constitution and expanding the scope of asset declarations by public office holders.
“I want to expand the asset declarations by public office holders to include, among others, senior staff and heads of regulatory and public institutions which were not previously covered,” he stated.
He also suggested that asset declarations be updated every two years instead of every four years, as well as placing limits on foreign official travel by ministers, CEOs, and civil servants.
Acknowledging the prevailing economic hardship in the country, Dr. Bawumia pointed to the numerous social interventions implemented by the government to alleviate suffering.
“The issue has to really be about what have you done. What is your track record on these issues of social intervention?” he asked and cited various initiatives, including free SHS, free TVET, and increased absorption of examination fees, as evidence of the government’s commitment to easing the burden on Ghanaians.
“The record is very, very solid,” Dr. Bawumia declared, contrasting the New Patriotic Party’s achievements with the lack of comparable interventions during Mr. Mahama’s tenure.
“The issue with my opponent is that he cannot point to one social intervention that he can say, ‘this is how I, when I was president, was able to relieve the suffering of our people.’ There’s just not one.”
Dr. Bawumia concluded by noting that the government has fulfilled 83% to 80% of its 2020 manifesto promises, underscoring the party’s commitment to delivering on its pledges.
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