Story: Atta Kwaku Boadi

The chairman of Groupe Nduom, a multi-national conglomerate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom says he is confident that whoever becomes the next leader of Ghana after  this year’s election will restore the licence of GN Bank/Savings.

It will  be recalled that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on August  16, 2019 revoked the licencs of twenty-three (23) savings and loans companies and finance houses including GN Savings and Loans.

GN Bank/Savings which is one of the companies of Groupe Nduom  has since then been battling the withdrawal of its licence in court noting that  the BoG’s decision was unlawful. 

Addressing the media yesterday in Accra to climax the #BringBackGNBank national tour of the 300 branches of the bank, Dr Nduom  noted that it was a sheer wickedness on the part of the government to revoke the licence of the bank. 

The business mogul who still did not understand why the central bank withdrew the licence of GN Bank/Savings stated  that, their next line of action which would happen from October to November  this year  would be very strategic to continue to press home their demand for the restoration of the licence of the bank.

“The northern regional tour ends the physical tour of the branches. However, we will continue our advocacy from now till the election  day to let those who are seeking the highest office of the land know our issue”, he said. 

Groupe Nduom, he said was not only into banking and finance,  but into  other businesses like; hospitality, real estate, media, insurance, pension, education, sports, advertising among others.   

The Groupe Nduom chairman indicated that what he observed during  the  national tour  of the branches of the bank left him helpless  “because  of the state of damage caused to the  properties of the bank”.

For example,  he mentioned places like Ningo-Prampram, Walewale, Karaga, Gushegu, Mallam Atta among others  where he said, the buildings there were found  in a very  deplorable state.  

Almost  all the  places he visited,  he said,  the buildings were also  locked up with padlocks,  a situation he described as “unlawful because the buildings do not belong to GN Bank/Savings” . 

Dr Nduom recounted how some elements within the current administration after revoking GN Bank’s licence chased him to the United States of America (USA) to destroy his bank in Chicago.  As if that was not enough after they failed the US attempt, he said, they turned their eyes on another bank of Groupe  Nduom in Liberia to collapse it.

“If your business is thriving, why do you want your competitor to fail?  Focus on your own,  and let  him or her also  have a peace of mind to work”, he said 

According to him, GN Bank did nothing wrong  for its licence to be revoked by the central bank. To this end, he further called on the ruling government to, as matter of urgency pay monies owed to Groupe Nduom companies.

He explained that if the government had paid the monies  owed to  GN Bank, and other Groupe Nduom companies, the bank wouldn’t have been declared insolvent.  

“We are calling on the current Akufo-Addo Administration to lift the embargo on payments to Groupe Nduom companies and the contractors whose contracts they had pre-financed.  That debt has ballooned to over  7.1 billion Ghana cedis and is still climbing”, he said.

The businessman cum politician revealed that he had petitioned many key personalities in the country including vice president Dr Mahamudu  Bawumia  and President Nana Addo Dankwa  Akufo-Addo  over the withdrawal of  GN Bank’s licence. As for Dr Bawumia, Dr Nduom claimed he had petitioned him twice but  he (Dr Bawumia) had only engaged him once.

He said, he recently as part of the #BringBackGNBank tour, sought  appointment with some of the presidential hopefuls for this year’s election including Dr Bawumia to present  a  petition again to them, but  said,  while others had received  the petition, the vice president who is the 2024 flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) government  was yet to honour the appointment.

To end, he singled out the flagbearer of National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama and the independent presidential candidate of  Movement For Change , John Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten for praise  for promising to restore the  licence of the bank if they win the election after they  individually received the petition .