Parliament's ad-hoc committee probing UT Bank, uniBank collapse in limbo
The ad-hoc committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin to probe the collapse of UT Bank and uniBank in response to a petition the owners of the defunct businesses sent to Parliament is in limbo.
The committee was expected to submit its report to the House at the commencement of the second meeting of the first session of the 8th Parliament on May 18, 2021, but 18 months afterwards, that has not happened.
Advertisement
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Bagbin has disclosed to the press that the committee was having challenges.
Delayed consideration of petitions
Mr Bagbin said after receiving the petitions, the petitioners were referred to the appropriate committee but unfortunately the response from the committee had not been encouraging.
He explained that he had, on many occasions, drawn the attention of the committee to expedite its probe but “we have not received any report from the committee.”
“They [committee] say they have few challenges but the Standing Orders are very clear on that, that when a matter is referred to you and you are unable to report, at least you have to send a report to give the House the reasons why you are unable to report on time.
“That one too, they have defaulted and this is a matter that will have to be handled in a manner that will improve, rather than destroy. And that is why we have not come very hard on those issues,” he stated.
The Speaker made the disclosure at a media engagement in Parliament last Friday (October 28, 2022).
- Read more
- Bagbin sets up 9-member committee to probe collapse of UT Bank and uniBank
- Parliamentary committee to probe collapse of uniBank and UT Bank
- BoG declines response to UT Bank, unibank petitions
- Probe into Unibank, UT Bank collapse: Committee directs petitioners
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) for instance in June 2021 declined Parliament’s request for it to respond to some petitions brought before the House in relation to the collapse of UT Bank and unibank.
In a letter to Parliament, from Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa and Ankomah, the BoG said the petitions brought before Parliament were wrongly placed and as such would not respond or participate in any investigations being carried out by Parliament.
Gov't erred in closing down Ghanaian-owned banks – Speaker Bagbin
But even before the committee's report is ready, the Speaker has some comments about the issue.
Graphic Online’s correspondent in Parliament, Nana Konadu Agyeman reports that Mr Bagbin during the interaction stated that the government erred in closing down Ghanaian-owned banks during the clean-up exercise in the banking sector in 2017.
He said due to the important roles of banks in every economy, the focus of every country was to make sure that they were in control of the banking sector.
He, therefore, said if there were some Ghanaians who had banks that were facing challenges, it was incumbent on the government to support them to succeed for “us to be in control of the banking sector”.
“So, if we had Ghanaians who had banks and they were having challenges, it is incumbent on us to support them to succeed for us to be in control of the banking sector.
Press corps engagement
“Our friends in government misunderstood the situation and thought that the clean-up involves the complete sell out of the banking sector to foreign interests.
“I think our colleagues in government erred in not seeing it that way and rather made sure that the Ghanaians who were trying to enter into the sector lost out.
“Instead of using let us say about GH¢5 billion to support the banks to survive, we ended using about GH¢25 billion but we have not been able to sanitise the sector,” he said.
The meeting allowed the Speaker to obtain feedback from the members of the Parliamentary Press Corps on the work of the legislature, and how best Parliament and the press could improve working relations.
Petitions
In March 2021, Parliament received petitions from two businessmen, Prince Kofi Amoabeng and Dr Kwabena Duffuor, owners of the UT Bank and uniBank respectively.
The two wanted Parliament to investigate the conduct of the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Stock Exchange in revoking the licenses of their financial institutions in 2017 on grounds that the licenses were revoked without due regard to the rules of Administrative Justice guaranteed under Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution.
On March 23, 2021, the Speaker referred to petitions to a seven-member committee of Parliament to investigate and report to the House.
Losing out
Responding to a question on what had become of the petitions, Mr Bagbin said they were part of a barrage of petitions Parliament had received.
He said given the important role banks played in the economy, if shareholders of banks were all foreigners, the dividends would go to the shareholders who were not Ghanaians.
“So, your sweat and toil and everything goes into the banks and the profits are taken away in the form of dividends by the shareholders who are sitting outside the country and so you lose out,” he said.
He added that: “What has rather happened now, if they bring the books, is that you will see that supposed surviving banks have collapsed and so there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Delayed consideration of petitions
Mr Bagbin said after receiving the petitions, the petitioners were referred to the appropriate committee but unfortunately the response from the committee had not been encouraging.
He explained that he had, on many occasions, drawn the attention of the committee to expedite its probe but “we have not received any report from the committee.”
“They say they have few challenges but the Standing Orders are very clear on that, that when a matter is referred to you and you are unable to report, at least you have to send a report to give the House the reasons why you are unable to report on time.
“That one too, they have defaulted and this is a matter that will have to be handled in a manner that will improve rather destroy and that is why we have not come very hard on those issues,” he stated.
Writer’s email: [email protected]