Dr. Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has addressed the controversy surrounding his alleged remarks referring to certain minority MPs as “hooligans” during the #OccupyBoG protest in October of the previous year.
Dr. Addison clarified that the reported characterization did not originate from him but from a foreign media outlet that initially covered the story.
In October 2023, a coalition comprising minority parliamentarians, NDC supporters, and various interest groups organized the #OccupyBoG demonstration, calling for the resignations of Dr. Addison and his deputies over allegations of economic mismanagement and unauthorized currency printing.
In response to the protest, Dr. Addison labeled the demonstrators as “hooligans” and asserted that neither he nor his deputies would resign. In an interview with the international business website Central Banking, Dr. Addison characterized the NDC-led protest as “completely unnecessary.”
However, during his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament on Monday, April 8, 2024, Dr. Ernest Addison firmly refuted these allegations, stating that the term “hooliganism” was an interpretation by the media outlet and did not accurately represent his words.
“This is what I am coming to say that those who know me and know my character…you have not heard a single word of a recorded message with me describing parliamentarians in that manner. This was some foreign journalist’s description of the conversation we had and I disowned it,” he stated.
