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0 NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/gn-savings-ruling-revives-row-over-bank-cleanup/A Court of Appeal ruling restoring the operating licence of GN Savings and Loans Company Limited has reignited a fierce debate over how Ghana’s banking sector cleanup was conducted, with a leading member of the United Party (UP) alleging that indigenous financial institutions were treated unfairly while foreign-owned banks were left untouched.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show, UP communicator Hopeson Adorye argued that the difficulties faced by GN Savings were not rooted in mismanagement but in unpaid government obligations that strangled the institution’s liquidity. “Government was owing the bank and government was not paying. So where was he going to get money to pay depositors?” he asked.
Adorye maintained that businesses associated with GN Savings founder Papa Kwesi Nduom were owed significant sums by the state, money tied to contractors whose payments were delayed. He insisted Nduom “did not do something reckless” that caused the company’s collapse.
Going further, Adorye claimed he personally witnessed former President Nana Akufo-Addo instruct former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to settle or restructure the debt before GN Savings fell. According to Adorye, Akufo-Addo called Ofori-Atta directly during a meeting and told him, “If you cannot pay all, give him a payment plan.” He alleged that nothing came of the instruction.
Adorye made equally striking claims about UT Bank, alleging that founder Prince Kofi Amoabeng sought last-minute intervention through contacts linked to Nigeria’s central banking system, with meetings running past 4am and assurances given that the bank would survive. Hours later, he said, the closure was announced.
The UP member framed both cases as evidence of a systemic imbalance, questioning why local banks bore the harshest consequences of the cleanup while foreign-owned institutions continued operating without disruption. “We should grow our own people,” he said, calling on Ghana to protect and strengthen indigenous financial institutions.
The Court of Appeal’s unanimous ruling quashed an earlier High Court decision and found the revocation of GN Savings’ licence unfair and unreasonable, a decision that has given fresh momentum to those who argued the cleanup exercise went too far in its treatment of locally owned institutions.
NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/gn-savings-ruling-revives-row-over-bank-cleanup/
