Chief Executive of Databank, Kojo Addae-Mensah, has taken over from Ace Ankomah on the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) special five-member search committee responsible for selecting the new head coach for the Black Stars.
The committee, led by GFA Vice President Mark Addo, includes Professor Joseph Mintah, Sports Ministry Chief Director William Caesar Kartey, and Ghanaian football legend Opoku Nti.
GFA has given the search committee a three-week timeframe to recommend the next Black Stars coach to the Executive Council for approval.
The quest for a new head coach began following the immediate dismissal of Chris Hughton, who was unable to guide the Black Stars beyond the group stages at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
In a prior statement, the Ghana Football Association announced a deadline of February 2, 2024, for prospective applicants to apply for the vacant coaching role.
The GFA has outlined five criteria that the new head coach must meet, including having at least 15 years of coaching experience. These criteria will be essential for the individual selected to lead the Black Stars.
Veteran broadcaster, Kwasi Kyei Darkwah, popularly known as KKD, is of the view Ken Ofori-Atta accepted the appointment of Finance Minister by President Akufo-Addo over the ill-performance of his financial institution, Data Bank.
He noted that should Data Bank have been well off, Ghana would never have recorded Mr Ofori-Atta as its Finance Minister under the administration of President Akufo-Addo.
Speaking in an interview on Power FM on Wednesday, July 26, he said: “When Ofori-Atta was operating Data Bank, should Data Bank have been faring well and excelling, he would not have needed a government position.”
According to KKD, ever since Mr Ofori-Atta became Finance Minister, Ghana’s debt stock has worsened. He alleges that the Finance Minister personally benefits from the loans taken on behalf of the country, hence his laid-back posture despite the wails of affected Ghanaians.
“But after he assumed a governmental position, now he is leading us on a loan taking spree and this is now killing us.
He was not worried since whenever he took a loan, so let’s say 100 million, his company will earn 9.8 million. So why won’t he continue taking loans,” he alleged.
Due to the current economic crisis facing Ghana, citizens called on the President to fire the Finance Minister. But the president failed to do so, arguing that Mr Ofori-Atta is competent for the job.
In 2018, the Minority in Parliament demanded the withdrawal of the appointment of Databank as advisors to the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana in the issuance of public debt transactions.
The opposition MPs argued that the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is compromising himself by appointing Databank to replace Strategic African Securities in the issuance of government securities.
Ghana’s public debt stats
Data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) reveals a significant rise in the country’s public debt stock from GH¢392.2 billion to GH¢569.3 billion within 13 months.
As of March 2022, Ghana’s total public debt stood at GH¢392.2billion, representing 6.43 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but as of April 2023, the figure rose to GH¢569.3 billion, representing 7.11 of the country’s GDP.
According to the Central Bank’s July 2023 Summary of Economic and Financial Data, Ghana’s debt in the first quarter of 2023 rose from GH¢547.8 billion ($50.7 billion) in January and further increased to GH¢564.1 billion ($51.2 billion) and GH¢569.5 billion ($51.7 billion) in February and March respectively.
Per the report, the country’s external debt exceeds its domestic debt. As of April 2023, the external debt stock recorded was GH¢321.4 as against GH¢247.9 domestic debt.
The increase in debt was mainly attributed to the depreciation of the cedi during the period and, to some extent, an increase in domestic debt by ¢15.9 billion in the first four months of the year.
Private attorney Martin Kpebu has vowed to file a lawsuit against Databank, a business owned by Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, should the New Patriotic Party fail to retain power in the upcoming elections.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the president’s cousin, is accused of advising the government on loans that benefit his own company (Data Bank).
Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta
Mr Kpebu has threatened to take legal action to ensure that the state is repaid for these funds.
“Less than 20 months or thereabout, President Akufo-Addo will be going with Ofori-Atta. They’re going to be out of government, then we’ll go to court. They will vomit it. We’ll take this money back. The money Databank made from the bonds, we’ll take it back. Not here in Ghana. Are we fools?” he said.
“You come and promise that you’re the philosopher king, incorruptible, “I’m not corrupt” then we vote for you and then clearly, so blazingly, very nauseating, broad daylight then you put Databank there and they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars from our bonds,” he lamented on last Saturday’s edition of Key Point on TV3.
He also criticized the Akufo-Addo government for causing hardship for Ghanaians while enriching themselves and called for the NPP to be voted out of government.
“Today our people are dying; today people can’t buy drugs; today people are starving; today people can’t pay rent; and you have become richer. We’ll take that money back as long as we live,” he added.
Ghana is currently going through severe economic hardship, which has had a serious impact on the cost of living for its citizens.
The government is seeking to remedy the situation through a $3 billion credit facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, critics of the finance minister say the minister and, in extension, the government bear responsibility for the economic challenges arising from what they say is reckless borrowing since assuming office.
A letter sighted by The Independent Ghana indicates that Data Bank is currently struggling to pay the academic fees of students investing with the financial institution.
The bank in a letter dated January 31, 2023, asked the said tertiary institutions for a deadline extension in order to make payment for first semester fees.
According to Data Bank, “we are in the midst of a macroeconomic crisis, which is adversely affecting the investment industry.”
“Due to the crisis and the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, Databank has difficult selling Government of Ghana securities and cannot get the necessary cash to pay withdrawal requests. As a result, it is taking us much longer than expected to pay our clients when they ask to withdraw. Some of these clients are students of your institution who have requested the funds to pay their school fees,” portions of the letter added.
Data Bank noted that it continues to engage stakeholders for liquidity relief and reiterated that “we would be grateful if the affected students could be given more time until we are able to pay them.”
“Please note that we have provided these students with official letters to submit to their institutions. We will also reach out to you when we make payments,” the letter signed by Gloria Peprah, a Branch Manager of Data Bank.
A letter from Data Bank announcing financial challenges
Databank, however, noted that it will not be held liable should a student fail to pay even after we have paid them.
Government is yet to implement the DDEP it launched in December last year due to concerns from individual bondholders and pensioners. Should the DDEP implementation continue to delay, Data Bank may struggle to ensure the fees of its investors are paid.
A visually impaired supporter of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said that he is unable to retrieve his GHc50,000 investment with Data Bank as a result of government’s ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
Speaking in an interview on Akoma FM, Agya Bray, who sells medical products, said that he went to the bank to withdraw his investment, which had matured, only to be told that there were no funds available.
He added that the bank told him that if he insists on getting his money back, he will have to lose GHc16,000 of his investment.
“I did not invest in a government bond. In 2007, I invested ¢500,000,000 (GHc50,000) in products of Ofori-Atta’s Bank (Data Bank), called the M-Fund and F-Fund. I went there for my money this past Tuesday, and they said that they don’t have any money for me.
“They told me that they can’t give me any money, and they were saying some things about haircuts and the IMF bailout the government was seeking. And I asked them why the government should be using my money to borrow from the IMF.
“Then they told me that if I wanted my money, they would let someone pay me, but I am going to lose ¢160,000,000 (GH¢16,000),” he said in Twi.
The NPP supporter said that he has always voted for the party, but if people like him lose their money due to the government’s debt exchange programme, they will abstain from voting in the upcoming 2024 elections.
The managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has bemoaned the instance of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta staying at post despite the many calls for him to step down.
Speaking in an interview on Peace FM, monitored by GhanaWeb, Pratt wondered why the minister who claimed he resigned from the DataBank on health grounds is healthy enough to be a minister of state.
He added that Ofori-Atta should resign because the position in the finance ministry is not his personal business.
“If I were Ofori-Atta, I would have resigned long ago. He said he works for free but he is refusing to resign. He said he resigned from Data Bank because of his health.
“And so if you cannot do the work at Data Bank because of your health, how is it that you are healthy enough to be the finance minister of the whole of Ghana,” he said in Twi.
The veteran journalist further stated that he still holds the view that sacking Ofori-Atta will not make any significate difference but it is time for him (the finance minister) to go.
“The minister can choose not to resign but he must know that his decision must meet the demands of Ghanaians because he is not running a private business,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has indicated that it will present the 2023 budget in Parliament on Thursday, November 24, 2024. However, the person who presents the budget has become an issue.
This is because 98 MPs of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have indicated that they will boycott the reading of the budget if Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is the one to present it.
Also, an ad hoc committee of Parliament set up to investigate a vote of censure motion against Ofori-Atta by National Democratic Congress MPs is expected to present its report to the house on Tuesday, November 22.
The managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has bemoaned the instance of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta staying at post despite the many calls for him to step down.
Speaking in an interview on Peace FM, monitored by GhanaWeb, Pratt wondered why the minister who claimed he resigned from the Data Bank on health grounds is healthy enough to be a minister of state.
He added that Ofori-Atta should resign because the position in the finance ministry is not his personal business.
“If I were Ofori-Atta, I would have resigned long ago. He said he works for free but he is refusing to resign. He said he resigned from Data Bank because of his health.
“And so if you cannot do the work at Data Bank because of your health, how is it that you are healthy enough to be the finance minister of the whole of Ghana,” he said in Twi.
The veteran journalist further stated that he still holds the view that sacking Ofori-Atta will not make any significate difference but it is time for him (the finance minister) to go.
“The minister can choose not to resign but he must know that his decision must meet the demands of Ghanaians because he is not running a private business,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has indicated that it will present the 2023 budget in Parliament on Thursday, November 24, 2024. However, the person who presents the budget has become an issue.
This is because 98 MPs of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have indicated that they will boycott the reading of the budget if Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is the one to present it.
Also, an ad hoc committee of Parliament set up to investigate a vote of censure motion against Ofori-Atta by National Democratic Congress MPs is expected to present its report to the house on Tuesday, November 22.
