The Majority and Minority caucuses in Parliament have clashed over the decision to hold a closed-door meeting with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama.
The disagreement followed a decision by the Committee of the Whole to hear the Governor’s responses to questions on the country’s foreign exchange interventions without the presence of the media.
Minority accuses Majority of hiding information
The Minority said the decision was intended to prevent the Governor from publicly acknowledging that Ghana’s foreign exchange stability was largely supported by the domestic gold purchase programme introduced under the previous administration.
Addressing journalists after walking out of the Chamber, Ofoase-Ayirebi MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the Governor’s responses had already been published on Parliament’s Order Paper and did not contain confidential information.
He said the Bank of Ghana had indicated that it had not undertaken direct foreign exchange market interventions from its reserves since August 2024.
Instead, he said, the central bank had financed its market interventions with foreign exchange proceeds generated through the domestic gold purchase programme.
“The Bank of Ghana is here to admit that the ability to intervene on the market is as a result of the domestic gold purchase programme, and that what they are doing is that they are mobilising forex proceeds from the domestic gold purchase programme, and those are the forex proceeds that they are using for market intervention,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
He argued that the Majority wanted to prevent the public from hearing what he described as evidence that the programme initiated under former Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia contributed to the recent foreign exchange gains.
Majority defends closed-door meeting
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga rejected claims that Parliament was trying to shield the Governor from public scrutiny.
He said Parliament’s Standing Orders require independent constitutional bodies, including the Bank of Ghana, to appear before committees rather than the plenary, adding that such meetings are generally held in private unless the committee decides otherwise.
Mr Ayariga cited Order 266, which states that committee meetings are held publicly unless members determine otherwise.
He said the Minority had the opportunity to convince the committee to hold the meeting in public but instead chose to walk out.
Governor prepared to answer questions
Mr Ayariga maintained that the Governor had nothing to hide and had already prepared his responses for public release.
“With the Governor himself knowing that there would be journalists, he ensured that his answers were captured in a press release, and was willing to share with them.
“So, I want you to know that there is nothing that the Governor is afraid of answering in public, but it is just that I believe that we must adhere to our rules,” he said.
Dr Asiama had appeared before Parliament to answer questions on the source of the foreign exchange used for market interventions, the framework guiding the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange operations and the volume of interventions undertaken since January 7, 2025.
