-As Finance Ministry Snub Bailout Demands After Ultimatum
The hopes of the Lock-up Investment Holders Forum to retrieve their locked-up investment under the current administration are in tatters as the Ministry of Finance has failed again to act on their demands despite the pressure.
The group, are aggrieved customers of some distressed and insolvent finance houses and savings and loans companies who are unable to retrieve their funds.
They have, therefore, been on an agenda to get the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ministry of Finance to revoke the licenses of the distressed finance institutions to pave the way for a bailout as required by law.
The group has resorted to period picketing and petitions to get the authorities to act but to no avail.
An earlier interaction with the convener of the forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, by The High Street Journal revealed that the aftermath of their pressure has resulted in the Ministry of Finance requesting data from the BoG on the distressed companies.
The data, is said, was meant to enable the Minister for Finance to decide on the subject.
However, after the data had been delivered, another pressure was mounted by the forum, with Dr. Adu Anane Antwi alleging that the Ministry became lackadaisical in dealing with the subject. This led to a November ending ultimate, by the forum to the Ministry, to act on the document.
But Dr. Adu Anane Antwi has revealed to The High Street Journal that a delegation from the forum sent to the Ministry to inquire about the progress has reported the failure by the Ministry to act on the document, in response to their demands.
“A delegation of the forum visited the Ministry last Monday, for them to let us know exactly the concrete steps they have taken so far to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any development in terms of what they are doing,” he stated.
He said, “Three weeks ago when we went there, we were told the financial sector division director was not in and that he was coming back to the office on the 28th of last month.”
But to date, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi maintains that nothing has been done about the situation yet. The development, he explained confirms their fear that the Ministry is deliberately delaying to push their demands to the next government, after the elections.
“That is what we can see. The government is not going to do anything now but wait for the next government to come and handle the issue,” he stated.
However, the convener emphasized that they are relentless in their quest and hence are not perturbed by the current development.
