The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has assured depositors who have been affected by the clean-up of the financial sector that their investments and deposits will not go to waste – urging them to exercise some restraint.
Speaking at the 56th Annual Session of the Ghana Baptist Convention (GBC) at Ejura in the Ashanti Region, he indicated that the exercise was a bold step to bring sanity into the banking sector while ensuring the Ghanaian depositor does not suffer any loss.
Urging Ghanaians to support government to succeed in that bid, the Finance Minister also appealed for the affected depositors to ignore the propaganda and politics which seek to undermine the good efforts of both government and the central bank.
The minister was reacting to concerns that were raised by the GBC regarding the delay in payment of monies to depositors in the collapsed banks and related institutions affected by the clean-up exercise.
The GBC, through its Executive President – Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, had entreated the government to consider facilitating early payment of deposits and investments to affected persons, to ease the burden on families and individuals as well as restore confidence in the banking sector.
The BoG recently announced that it had brought an end to the banking sector clean-up. A total of nine banks, 23 savings and loans and finance houses, and 347 microfinances have had their licences revoked in an exercise that began on August 14, 2017.
The Annual Session was under the theme ‘Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity and The Future of Baptist Identity’.
The minister commended the GBC for committing more resources to support the country’s accelerated development agenda.
Specifically, he said the Baptist Church continues to play a crucial role in the area of education, quality healthcare and improving the physical and spiritual lives of people in society.
He encouraged the Baptist church to stick to its identity and ensure that the church is stronger, more united, accountable and obedient to God’s word – and should, importantly, ensure that they demonstrate good citizenship.
The annual session was for leadership of the Baptist Convention to account for their stewardship, and to inform the members about the challenges faced as a denomination and issues to be addressed in moving the denomination forward