Pratt blasts Ayariga over Merchant Bank
The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has criticised the Information Minister’s response to reports that the Presidency prevented Merchant Bank from retrieving a loan it gave to Engineers and Planners – a mining firmed owned by President John Mahama’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama.
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While denying Monday that the President prevented Merchant Bank from recovering its debt, the Information Minister, Mr Ayariga told Accra-based Joy FM that he was certain that Engineers and Planners would repay the loan.
The remark did not go down well with Mr Pratt, who condemned the Minister for acting as a spokesman for Engineers and Planners.
Speaking on Peace FM's morning show on Tuesday, Mr Pratt said the Information Minister's expression of confidence in the ability of Engineers and Planners to repay the loan created the impression that he was a communicator for the mining firm, and not the government.
He said such "petty mistakes" on the part of government communicators contribute to "the muddying of the waters”.
Mr Pratt underscored the need for government communicators to distinguish between government business and private business, stressing that failure to do so would drag the government into “unnecessary controversy”.
The Insight Editor also emphasised the need for Engineers and Planners to pay its debt to Merchant Bank.
He said the debt represented 19.5 per cent of all debts owed the bank and wondered which organisations or individuals were responsible for the remaining 80.5 per cent.
Mr Pratt said it is imperative that Merchant Bank retrieves all the monies owed it, if it is to remain viable and that, failure to retrieve those monies could lead to the collapse of the bank – a development he said would be catastrophic for Ghana’s banking sector.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) recently approved a deal for Fortiz Private Equity Fund to pay GH¢90 million for a 90 per cent stake in Merchant Bank.
However, the deal is currently the subject of an ongoing court case initiated by Mr Andrew Awuni, the Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy (CFA).