The Attorney-General (A-G) has been petitioned to prosecute the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and other top bank executives for the severe depreciation of the Ghana cedi.
Dr. John E. Baiden is encouraging the Attorney General to go behind the BoG and "remove the corporate veil" to hold the central bank's senior officials accountable for the cedi's difficulties, which have impacted the economy and individuals.
He wrote the petition on behalf of the Liberty Institute Law Firm, which he formed to promote justice and liberty in the United States.
Dr. Baiden claimed that the Bank of Ghana had failed to carry out its responsibility to stabilize the cedi, as set out in Article 183 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 4(b) of the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002. (Act 612).
Cedi made a mistake.
The petitioner claims that the Bank of Ghana has harmed the Ghana cedi.
The petition read, "It is out of line and must be brought back into line, as our laws demand."
The petitioner hoped that the A-G would investigate the likely reason of the national currency's depreciation and "initiate prosecution against individuals behind the BoG corporate shell for the unlawful harm they have caused to our cedi — earned, gifted, invested, and saved," according to the petitioner.
"Hopefully, prosecution will lead to increased awareness and deterrent." Instability in the currency equates to instability in the country. Dr. Baiden asserted, "Ghana can do better."
The petition was sent to the President, Speaker of Parliament, Minister of Finance, and the Board of Governors on May 5, 2022.
Hardships
Dr. Baiden believed that the cedi's interbank exchange rate, which was more than GH7.61 at the time he filed the case, had resulted in enormous price hikes in all critical products including as food, gasoline, utilities, and transportation costs, causing tremendous pain and misery in the country.
The petition noted that "the cedi devaluation is not abating; placing the entire populace in a panic mode since general earnings and wages are stagnant, unaltered, and, for some, deteriorating owing to the current unfavorable economic conditions and as a result of the unstable cedi."
Cedi administration
It went on to say that the BoG's incapacity to put in place rules and processes to properly manage the currency had exacerbated the current suffering caused by the cedi's decline in value.
The BoG has used a method called as the "free floating exchange" to regulate the cedi against other currencies since 1992, according to the report, which was based on the demand and supply of foreign currencies.
It was preferable to use the system if a central bank had sufficient foreign currency reserves to intervene anytime demand outstripped supply to relieve pressure on the local currency, it said.
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