Minority lashes out at the government over the alleged sale of NIB to ADB

The National Investment Bank (NIB) has been the target of attempts to sell it to ADB Bank Ghana Limited, thus the minority in parliament has made suggestions to the government on how to manage it.

Since the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is rumored to control the majority ownership in ADB, Minority Spokesperson on Finance Isaac Adongo claims that the decision to have ADB Bank acquire NIB stinks of conflict of interest.

However, the MP for Bolgatanga Central noted that the government has no plans to take any regulatory action over the situation of NIB.

“The law requires that if the Bank of Ghana is not satisfied with NIB, it has several options including placing NIB under administration like they placed UniBank under administration, revoke the licence of NIB because that is their property,” Adongo disclose it in an interview with media in Accra on Thursday, September 28.

“But in revoking the licence, they must take steps to ensure that depositors’ funds are protected by placing it under receivership and proper supervision to close the phase of life.”

“They are not intending to place NIB under Article 930 but they are trying to find a back-door approach without regard to the law that set up NIB.”

He said that reorganizing NIB’s finances to balance its books and “swapping all the NIB debts that it owes to government” would resolve the organization’s current financial crisis.

Mr. Adongo thus gave notice that they will fight any attempt to transfer NIB assets to ADB.

Speaking at the press conference alongside Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the current Minority Leader and former Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, he said the Minority will document its recommendations and present them to the Economic Management Team of the government as well as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, “telling them we are ready to fix this situation because Ghana is for all of us.”

There were media allegations earlier this month that the government was considering allowing ADB Bank to acquire the National Investment Bank (NIB).

According to the sources, the choice is one of several reform initiatives being thought about for the NIB, which has faced financial difficulties in recent years.

The reports state that the Government made this choice because it is unable to keep providing financial support to NIB.

Because of its current financial problems, the Government has requested a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in order to boost the economy.

Some financial analysts claim that because of NIB’s perilous financial situation, the ADB Bank would need financial support in order to better prepare for the takeover. They claim that selling NIB is preferable.

Other players in the business are opposed to the takeover. They said that the NIB Management’s attempts to save the bank from failure have begun to pay off.

They outlined the steps the bank had taken to stop revenue leaks and how it would be able to fully recover with the addition of 2.2 billion in new capital to its operations.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com