Story: Atta Kwaku Boadi
What was once envisioned as a prime example of rural banking and a beacon of economic hope now stands as a haunting skeletal remains of brick and mortar.
Years after the revocation of GN Savings licence, the branch facility at Biriwa in the Central region of Ghana has been surrendered to the elements and scavengers, transforming a massive investment of Ghanaian entrepreneur funds into a decaying “ghost” site.
Th site has become the ultimate symbol of a banking revolution that promised the world but left behind nothing but a trail of rot and ruined infrastructure.
The local branch of GN Savings—a building that stood as a pillar of the Accra-Cape Coast highway—has become the latest casualty in what critics are calling a “wicked and wanton” liquidation process that has cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions in lost assets.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) on August 16, 2019 revoked the licences of twenty-three (23) savings and loans companies and finance house companies. This included GN Savings, a company BoG had issued a licence to only in January 2019 following the reclassification of GN Bank, a universal bank.
The then Governor of BoG Dr. Ernest Addison, appointed PWC’s Eric Nana Nipah as the Receiver. This was under the administration of former President Nana Akufo-Addo and the supervision of Kenneth Nana Yaw Kuntunkununku Ofori-Atta.
Since then, huge financial losses due to the destruction of office buildings, vehicles, office equipment generators, air conditioning units, TVs, etc have occurred in hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis.
Recent images from the Biriwa branch tell a harrowing story of neglect. What was once a fully-functioning financial hub is being stripped to its skeleton. This isn’t just about peeling paint; it is the systematic loss of infrastructure as buildings are left to crumble or be vandalized by scavengers. Dozens of vehicles are also rotting in high-grass lots, their engines silent and tires deflated.
Today investigations also show that high-end office equipment, generators, air conditioning units, and televisions—worth millions of Ghana Cedis are left to the elements or stolen.
When the BoG appointed Eric Nana Nipah as the Receiver, the mandate was clear: protect and realize the value of the assets to pay off creditors. Yet, the scene at Biriwa suggests a massive failure in asset protection.
“This is not just a business failure; it is a national tragedy,” says one local resident. “
They took the bank away to save our money, but they left the buildings to rot. Who pays for this loss?”
As the physical assets of GN Savings vanish into thin air, the financial burden on the Ghanaian state continues to swell. Experts suggest that the destruction of these assets has diminished the potential recovery funds for depositors, leaving a gaping hole in the national purse that may never be filled.
While the “reform” was intended to restore confidence in the banking sector, the skeletal remains of the Biriwa branch serve as a haunting reminder of the high price of reform—and the devastating cost of a receivership that appears to have lost its grip.
