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The parliamentary Minority on Wednesday walked out of a briefing by Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Asiama after the First Deputy Speaker ordered the session to be held behind closed doors, triggering accusations that the Majority was undermining transparency and accountability.
First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor directed that the Committee of the Whole sitting be conducted in camera following a request from the Majority, preventing journalists from covering the proceedings.
The Minority subsequently suspended its participation in the briefing and addressed a news conference in Parliament.
Minority spokesperson on the economy and Ofoase/Ayirebi MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah described the decision as unjustified, arguing that the Governor’s written responses had already been published on Parliament’s Order Paper and were therefore public information.
“Earlier, the Governor submitted his answers, and I’m going to read to you the answers they don’t want you to hear,” Oppong Nkrumah told reporters.
He questioned why the media had been excluded when previous engagements with Bank of Ghana governors had been conducted publicly.
“Why is it that the Majority is preventing the Governor from saying this to the entire country?” he asked.
Oppong Nkrumah said the Governor’s written responses indicated that the central bank had not directly intervened in the foreign exchange market with its reserves since August 2024, relying instead on proceeds from Ghana’s domestic gold purchase programme to support the cedi.
He said the Minority also intended to question the Governor on the Bank of Ghana’s financial losses and figures published by the central bank.
In a post on X, Oppong Nkrumah criticised the decision to exclude the media, saying Parliament was denying Ghanaians access to information on matters of national economic importance.
“As a result of their decision not to allow you to cover, we have suspended our participation,” he said. “Our leadership will continue to engage so that they do the right thing.”
He added that Parliament exists to ensure public accountability and that Ghanaians should be allowed to hear the Governor’s responses.
The Majority Leader, however, maintained that holding the session in camera was not intended to prevent the public from accessing information arising from the engagement.
The closed-door briefing formed part of Parliament’s oversight of the central bank amid continued public interest in Ghana’s economic management, exchange rate policy and the Bank of Ghana’s financial position.
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