The Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have said that although the National Investment Bank (NIB) is currently facing some liquidity challenges, its Treasury was not bankrupt.
They have, therefore, urged the public to continue having confidence in the state-owned bank and deposit their monies there for safe keeping.
The Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) in Accra on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, noted that it was only when the nation rallies behind NIB that industries would thrive.
He then cautioned the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs not to run down NIB with their unfounded allegations, since the effect of their actions had dire consequences on the financial sector.
The reaction of the Majority Caucus follows a series of allegations against the NIB by the Minority Caucus in an attempt to draw the public’s attention to happenings at the bank that needed immediate attention.
For instance, the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee and NDC MP for Bolgatanga Central in the Upper East Region at a press conference, held last month in Accra, accused the Managing Director of NIB of running the bank virtually from his base in Canada for almost a year.
Adongo, who was supported by the Minority Leader, Casiel Ato Forson, and some other NDC MPs, also accused the bank of hiring a new office building at an extra cost, when its finances were not in good standing.
That notwithstanding, Adongo accused the NIB of operating a bankrupt Treasury – a situation which had compelled the government to consider selling the bank to a private entity. However, Dompreh noted that all the allegations made by the NDC MPs were unfounded, stressing that he had documents to back his claim.
“I am not happy about the attitude of our colleague Minority. It is not everything that you have to play politics with it. When the financial sector had its challenges and some banks had to be collapsed, the effect of it affected the economy. So, the least they could have done was just to investigate this matter.
“You can’t just organise the press and say the bank is being run from Canada. That was not true. It is also never true that the treasury of NIB has gone bankrupt. All documentations that I have chanced upon have proved otherwise. So, the Minority should be careful and thread cautiously. If they don’t have the facts, they should engage the Board and the Management and I am sure that they will get to know where the truth is,” he noted.
He added: “The other allegation that the bank had gone to hire a new building and that it was an extra cost – the NIB used to be in a swarming area where no bank is operating there, and with the blessing of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, the NIB bank entered into some batter arrangement for them to be where they are currently now. That cannot be a political matter.”
In 2019, the Finance Minister obtained parliamentary approval for an amount of GH¢2.2 billion as a sovereign guarantee in favor of Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) to recapitalise NIB. Apart from that, some GH¢850 million raised by the Minister of Finance was recently injected into the operations of the bank.
The staff strength of NIB, which used to be 18 per branch, has also be reduced to 10, with the bank discontinuing its daily borrowing of GH¢160 million from the Bank of Ghana.
Since 2018, NIB has increased its deposit by 59% from a GHS3.2billion in 2019 to GHS5billion presently. Dompreh commenting further also accused Adongo and the NDC of dillydallying with the Treasury status of the NIB.
“It is never true that the treasury of the NIB is not functioning. I have mentioned to you that some GH¢500 million was given to non-financial institutions during the NDC era. As we speak, a lot of the money have not been recovered.
“So, the NDC must be careful when commenting on a bank that is mandated by law to help shore up and develop our industry. The least they can do – I will be happy if they call for the central bank to inject more money into NIB to support our industrial drive.
We are talking about 1D1F as a country to develop our industrial sector and the bank’s core mandate is to support our industrial drive. What the government should be encouraged and urged to do is to help in the recapitalization but not to rundown the bank,” he underscored.
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
