George Loh wants Bawumia, BoG boss summoned in Parliament over economic crisis

Parliament has been urged to take urgent steps in tackling the ailing economic conditions of the country, by inviting the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison and the head of the economic management team, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

This call was made by an aspiring Volta Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress, George Loh.

High cost of living, upsurge in prices of goods and services, and high inflation have created dire challenges for consumers and entrepreneurs as many businesses risk shutting down over the situation if no intervention from the government is seen.

Though government is currently negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to find solutions to the crisis, the deal is far from done in its current state.

The former MP for North Dayi, George Loh speaking to journalists in Accra argued that the law-making house has a key responsibility to play in the situation.

“I think that Parliament is important in this matter because it is the representative of the people. Their intervention will bring clarity to what is happening”.

He said, “because you know one of their functions is supervising the public purse and from the way things are going, they may need to invite the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, head of the economic management team, they may need to invite the Minister of Finance and his team to get an explanation and find out what the minster is doing to turn this tide because it’s dangerous. I mean, it’s throwing our economy out of gear and Parliament has a responsibility to be seen doing something to help the situation”.

He wants the finance committee of Parliament to as a matter of urgency engage all stakeholders within the financial space to find an immediate solution to the crisis.

According to the former lawmaker, “the finance committee of parliament has the mandate under the guidance of the speaker to summon these people. All these people operate technically under the finance committee so they can do that on behalf of parliament; my understanding is that parliament itself has cash flow issues and at the moment they don’t have money to be recalled back”.

“So I believe that the finance committee should take steps to invite all these major players in the financial sector so that after that they can put out elaborate information”.