President John Dramani Mahama has come under heavy fire from the minority in Parliament for permitting Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiamah, the acting governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), to have his criminal charges dropped.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, February 5, the Minority, represented by Tano North MP Dr. Gideon Boako, argued that the prosecution should be permitted to continue even after Dr. Asiamah was appointed.
Dropping the charges, they contended, raises important questions regarding accountability and governance.
The Minority claims that the decision to end the case could have significant political and economic repercussions for Ghana.
“Political and economic risk analysts will not be kind to Ghana given that some global financial institutions may refuse to do business with Ghana due to the uncertainty over these charges being re-instated by a future Attorney-General. This will likely increase the cost of Ghana’s international transactions,” they warned.
They emphasized that stopping the prosecution does not mean that Dr. Asiamah is innocent of any wrongdoing and that the charges could still be brought back by a later administration, which could erode trust in his judgment as governor of the BoG.
“Dropping the charges does not mean he has been absolved of the crime. These charges can be brought back under a different government; and what will become of the decisions he will make as Governor?” they asked.
“We will be writing to the IMF to draw attention to this, given that he will also, as Governor of the Bank, be a member of the IMF Board of Governors, exposing Ghana to international ridicule,” they stated.
