Frustrated customers of financial companies with frozen accounts have vowed to make Nkoranza a living hell for government employees if monies lodged with the microfinance companies are not released to them.
The Bank of Ghana froze the accounts of some microfinance companies including DKM and God is Love in May this year. They were accused of violating the Banking Act.
The Bank of Ghana said the companies failed to comply with the terms and conditions stipulated in its licence, as well as holding insufficient assets to meet its liabilities to depositors.
Customers are the worst affected by the Bank of Ghana’s action. About three people who had accounts with the financial institutions have died due to their inability to access their money, the MP for Berekum East has confirmed.
Kofi Ohene Sakyi and Henry Owusu who speak for the affected customers in Nkoranza told Joy News about 90 percent of people living in Nkoranza have their monies deposited in those companies.
They said even though schools have reopened, students are still at home because there is no money to pay for their school fees. Also, sick people cannot go to hospital and most of them are farmers but cannot invest in their farming businesses again.
They have therefore threatened to invoke curses on government workers in the area if their accounts are not released within seven days.
Meanwhile, the Brong Ahafo regional Security Council has been meeting the Bank of Ghana and the affected financial institutions on Wednesday in a move to resolve the crisis.
The Regional Minister, Eric Opoku who announced the position of the REGSEC called on the Bank of Ghana to consider defreezing accounts of the affected companies.
The central bank has set September 11 for DKM to inject 50 million cedis into its operations, constitute a competent board of directors and beef it staff strength with persons with requisite qualification.
“RESEC wants to place on record that the exercise being undertaken by the Bank of Ghana is in the supreme interest of the people to protect them from losing their interest and should not be misconstrued. Bank of Ghana wishes to state that the government has no hands in it…,” Mr. Opoku said.
The Minister noted that the action has affected customers of the companies “emotionally, economically and psychologically”.
Members of Parliament in the Brong Ahafo region have come together to put pressure on the Bank of Ghana to speedup investigations so that affected customers can get back their money.
The MP for Berekum East, Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah told Joy News the “situation is terrible…with no light in sight”. Many have lost all their capital, he said.
He said if they don’t get any positive response, “we are going to organize our people to really protest massively because we think that the regulator should have been proactive…some of them have been operating for the past six years”.
Dr. Twum Nuamah said “about three people have lost their lives because of this situation. In fact today one lady collapsed and died in the hospital and it is linked to the investment situation.”
