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Case against BoG over cedi depreciation adjourned indefinitely

By Daily Guide
Business & Finance Case against BoG over cedi depreciation adjourned indefinitely
DEC 16, 2014 LISTEN

The case involving an Accra-based lawyer and banking lecturer, John Ephraim Baiden who has prayed the Supreme Court to compel the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to stabilise the Cedi, was yesterday adjourned indefinitely.

This was after the Principal State Attorney in the case; Grace Ewool, prayed the court's five-member panel, presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie for an extension of time to file their statement of case.

The court consequently adjourned the case to enable the State file for extension and for the plaintiff to respond to it.

Mr Baiden filed the suit early this year after the cedi depreciated against major foreign currencies.

The plaintiff is seeking a declara­tion that upon the true and proper interpretation of Article 183(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution and section 4(b) the Bank of Ghana Act 2002, the Central Bank has failed to promote and maintain a stable currency for Ghana.

When the case was first called in July, this year, the defendant raised preliminary objection on grounds that the Supreme Court was the wrong forum, but the court asked that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to respond to the plaintiff's case before the objection would be consid­ered.

The bank noted that if the reliefs of the plaintiff are granted, the court would go beyond its domain and that the issue is a non-justifiable political question.

The Central Bank was of the opin­ion that the court would be exercising the functions of the Ministry of Finance if it grants the reliefs.

The defendant consequently prayed the court to dismiss the suit.

The lawyer, on the other hand, claims the Central Bank had failed to respond to the issues which he raised, adding that BoG has so far not chal­lenged his data on the poor perform­ance of the cedi.

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