…..Minister Orders Audit Inspection
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, on Tuesday reiterated that the former government overdrew almost 900 billion cedis of its accounts at the Bank of Ghana.
In a statement delivered by the Minister in Parliament, he said: “I wish to go on record that I will never impugn the integrity of my colleagues on the other side (minority), for the sake of political expediency.”
The statement sought to react to a Ghanaian Chronicle publication that alleged that Mr Victor Selormey, a former Deputy Minister of Finance, has challenged Mr Osafo-Maafo’s claim, promising to “put his reputation on the line to prove him wrong”
In that publication, another former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Moses Asaga, questioned the credibility of Mr Osafo-Maafo’s allegations made on March 9, and called on the Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to give details of the transaction.
Mr Osafo-Maafo said: “I wish to state emphatically that my declaration of government overdrawn accounts at the Central Bank is supported by communications that I have received from both the BOG and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”.
He said on February 16, 2001, the Governor of BOG communicated to him that “at the end of the third quarter of year 2000, central government account showed an overdrawn position of three billion cedis. This position deteriorated further on monthly basis, during the last quarter, rising to 855.5 billion cedis by the end of December 2000.”
Mr Osafo-Maafo said the overdrawn position reflected the net balance on total government inflows and payments, both statutory and discretionary.
“Where as the statutory payments were pre-determined and Bank of Ghana could monitor, most of the discretionary payments especially from the districts and regions were undertaken without making reference to government financial position at the Central Bank.”
He said such payments were effected at the regional treasuries after which the cheques were forwarded through the clearing system.
The Minority requested that the governor of BOG be summoned to brief the “Committee of the Whole” (Parliament sitting in camera) on the matter but the Majority dismissed the idea saying it prefers that the Finance Committee handle the matter.
Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker, appealed to both sides to consult on the matter and reach a compromise soon.
Source: GhanaWeb
