Passionate plea to BoG: Hear the plea of hurting customers and let their cries come unto thee
Reading a financial data put out this week by the Bank of Ghana (BoG); one could not help standing up to give them thumps up for great financial indicators.
According to the data on micro-economic gains, there has been a strong appreciation of the Cedi with a year on gain of 40+ per cent in value against the US Dollar. The monetary policy rate has been cut from 18 per cent to 15.5 perc ent.
The data further informs us that public debt has reduced by GH¢40bn, domestic debt dropped about 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and so also a drop in the country’s external debt.
But what impact us perhaps most with direct benefits in one’s pocket are the drops in interest rate and inflation which is reportedly gone down to a single digit while food inflation is said to have been contained.
All these economic gains at the micro level within a year are appreciable and one is most grateful, hoping the trend will continue.
Regulator, mediator
However, one would like to request the central bank as the regulator, to cast its mind back to the performance of some financial institutions under its purview.
They have become thorns in the flesh of their customers, causing deep hurts and regrets which only BoG can help as a regulator and perhaps, a mediator.
With relationships gone sore as customers have kind of abandoned any interest, one believes the BoG can attend to the problems of those institutions so they can also honour their obligations to the loyal customers who, thinking ahead, once had confidence in them by putting their monies in there for their future securities.
It gets ridiculous and almost absurd that over the last six years or more, investors have been at a loss as to what is going on with their investments in some financial institution at a time when they needed to withdraw those funds, partial or its entirety.
The way issues have been left to travel this far, it begs the question as to whether BoG is on top of whatever the problem is and was the name of an Army Lieutenant General who was killed in an abortive coup.
The sad incident happened at a spot at the airport where at the time, his statue was cited.
His interest was piqued and was pressing for more information.
Perhaps what saved me at the time from disclosing too much information to a first-time visitor to Ghana was a distraction from a crew member.
The break was most welcome and we never went back to discuss the abortive coup and Lt General Kotoka’s role.
Name change
In the article in question, alongside calling for a makeover at KIA, I also suggested a name change to make the renovated airport complete.
I believed then that if the airport was being brought up to modern international status, the history behind the name was, in my estimation, somewhat not at par with progress, and therefore, taking away from our route to development as a country.
I consequently put out some suggestions and said if we must use the name Kotoka after the renovations, “we were to consider naming the space which at the time was being used as the meet and greet or arrivals for the airport”.
The reason was that, from stories heard at the time, that area was part of the forecourt where Lt. General Kotoka was killed in the abortive coup.
A further suggestion made in the article was that since we had various car parks and roads within the airport, we could name any after the fallen army General “while we embarked on a national search for an appropriate name for the international airport”.
Those were my thoughts, as far back as 2014, around a change of name for KIA.
It is no coincidence that exactly 12 years later, a name change for KIA has become a national discussion.
While some nationals are arguing against a name change, others are of the view that removing the name would be a deletion of part of the nation’s history.
Our minds at this stage in our history and as we progress an economic reset to benefit the majority, maybe the debate should rather be centred on the question: will renaming KIA benefit the nation vis-à-vis the cost that we are likely to incur in the process?
Could we not use the funds involved in such a project to the benefit of the majority by way of investing in social projects in areas of health and education for example?
A change of name for the KIA might be desirable, but at this stage of resetting our economy, it may not be beneficial.
Perhaps it is a question of balancing our priorities.
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