Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has insisted that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana must resign.
He says Dr Ernest Yedu Addison has failed and must be given the marching orders without delay.
He, therefore, expressed strong dissent to views that the calls for the resignation of the Governor of the central bank are unnecessary.
Mr Kpebu was speaking on The Keypoints on TV3/3FM on Saturday, August 26.
He was reacting to the dismissal by renowned economist Kwame Pianim of the calls for Dr Addison’s resignation.
According to Mr Pianim, the Governor resigning will not solve the core problem when the appointer is still in office.
“Resignation doesn’t solve any problem,” he told Media General‘s Paa Kwesi Asare.
“If a Governor resigns now, what happens? The same Minister for Finance who is at the core of the economic crisis recommends to the same President, they appoint somebody who doesn’t know the terrain, who hasn’t gone through this to be able to solve the problem? No.”
He insisted that “it is the Minister for Finance’s responsibility to report to Parliament”.
“We didn’t make BoG responsible to go to Parliament, so when the Minister of Finance went to Parliament to suspend the Fiscal Responsibility Act, somebody from the opposition should have asked, what happened to Article 36 of the Banking Act and the Minister should have said concurrently that part is also suspended because you cannot suspend the Fiscal Responsibility Act and leave the complimentary dimensions on the monetary policy side.”
But Mr Kpebu said inasmuch as Mr Pianim should be commended in recent times for being outspoken on national issues, he got it wrong this time.
“On the matter of the law, I disagree with him. The law is very clear that the Governor must also go to Parliament,” he insisted, citing Act 918(7) as enjoining the Governor not only to report to the sector minister but also to Parliament on some major decisions.
“The Governor is accountable to Parliament,” he emphasised.
For him, “we paid so much for your foresight, so you have lost it, Addison.”
The Minority in Parliament has already activated plans to embark on a protest on Tuesday, September 5 to demand not only Dr Addison’s resignation but those of his two deputies as well as all directors of the central bank.
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana