Richard Ahiagbah offers insight into reasons behind building a new BoG headquarters
Richard Ahiagbah, the Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has illuminated the intricate particulars related to the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) endeavor to construct a new headquarters.
Speaking during an engagement with journalists in the Volta Region, Ahiagbah emphasized the importance of contextualizing the nation’s economic challenges through media coverage.
Contrary to the statements of Minority Leader in Parliament, Casel Ato Forson, Ahiagbah’s account traces the origins of the BoG’s new head office initiative back to a period predating Ghana’s fourth republic.
Forson had distanced himself and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from any participation in the Central Bank’s efforts to establish a new headquarters. Ahiagbah’s explanation presents a timeline spanning from 1990 to 2020, encompassing periods when both the NPP and NDC governed the country, including oversight of the Central Bank.
Ahiagbah revealed that the Bank of Ghana began searching for a suitable and secure location for a new headquarters in the 1990s. Due to the expansion of the central business district encroaching upon the existing head office on Thorpe Road and the need for increased space to accommodate its growing functions, the bank initiated efforts to acquire adjacent properties.
While these efforts yielded limited success, Ahiagbah unveiled that the bank successfully secured the Queensway Bookshop and a parcel of land near Melcom, both free from ownership disputes.
He further elucidated that “in 2012, the Bank was granted an unnumbered 5.19-acre plot in Accra Central by the Lands Commission, for which 791,580 Ghana cedis (GHS) was paid. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration contested the bank’s ownership claim, refusing to relinquish the land.”
Continuing the quest for an appropriate site, Ahiagbah noted that in 2013, Messrs Callister Ghana Limited, represented by Mr. Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, proposed a 5.341-acre land near Ridge Hospital for 32,313,050 US dollars (USD), a proposal that was ultimately rejected after due diligence.
He outlined that similar offers ensued, including a 6-acre parcel near Airport City by Messrs Dream Realty and a 7-acre proposal from Messrs KAA Law. Each of these offers was declined for various reasons. In 2015, Messrs IbisTek Ltd tendered an offer for a 20-acre plot near the Achimota Forest at USD 2.5 million per acre. However, due diligence prompted the recommendation against acquisition.
Ahiagbah added that the Bank aimed to settle for 1,200,000 Ghana cedis (GHS) with Messrs IbisTek Ltd due to the unsuccessful land purchase.
He concluded by explaining that the Bank ultimately followed due process to acquire the West Ridge land through a government-initiated Executive Instrument, specifically 2020 E.I 304, for the ongoing construction of the new headquarters.
Meanwhile, Casel Ato Forson, the NDC minority leader in Parliament, issued a press release dissociating himself from the construction process.
Forson criticized the decision to construct a new headquarters amidst the Bank’s financial challenges, suggesting that it reflected misplaced priorities.
Ahiagbah countered that in 2015, during the NDC’s governance when Ato Forson was a Board Member of the Bank of Ghana, the country was grappling with a power crisis and had sought assistance from the IMF for an economy that was struggling.
According to the IMF’s website, Ghana faced economic difficulties in 2015 due to “uncontrolled government spending, primarily for paying the salaries of an oversized civil service.”
“By 2015, Ghana’s economy was in trouble, hobbled by widening current account and budget deficits, rampant inflation, and a depreciating currency. Credit dried up as interest rates rose and banks’ bad loans piled up. At the root of Ghana’s woes was out-of-control government spending, largely to pay salaries of an overgrown civil service,” the IMF states on its website.
Source – citinewsroom.com
