H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo Why Did You Sit On Depositors' Money Till Many Of Them Suffered And Died Before Paying? 

Between the mid 70's and the early 80's, there was this madman at Betom, a suburb of Koforidua who was very good at advertising his intentions.

He went about warning his victims. He begins by saying, "I'm coming to do it;" and whaam, he slaps! Then he continues, "didn't I tell you I was going to do it?"

Moving forward, President Akufo-Addo seems to be towing the line of the madman of Betom by advertising his defeat way before the upcoming polls in December. During the campaign period in 2016, the then-candidate Akufo-Addo said emphatically that we are sitting on money, yet hungry, and if Ghanaians should vote for him, he will come and help dig out the money for our benefit; but couldn't dig out money for Ghanaian depositors before some of them died, now that he is president.

Many Ghanaians, have gone through excruciating pain with some losing their lives as a result of Akufo-Addo's banking sector cleanup. According to a news item published on 20th June, 2020, by Peacefmonline.com, policy think tank, ASEPA's data show that about 18,000 Ghanaians whose monies are locked up at the defunct financial institutions have died. They died from the shock and pain of losing their lifetime investments and savings. Many also died because they could not pay their medical bills for treatments that could have otherwise saved their lives.

Aside this, the think tank revealed that 6,500 orphans whose parents are dead because of the cleanup exercise are currently struggling to fend for themselves. And 9,000 depositors have been ejected from their homes, and have been rendered homeless because of their inability to pay their rents.

Isn't this heart-wrenching? The insouciance with which Akufo-Addo treated the plight of depositors is sad, and he is answerable for these deaths and sufferings. He should have fixed the banking crisis instead of nixing it. Against this background, one worry stands out, the lives lost can never be brought back. So, why should the President sit on depositors money for them to go hungry, suffer and die?

This action of our president reinforces a view that his statement that we are sitting on money but are hungry; a problem he will solve when he becomes president, is a huge mismatch between falsehood and truth.

The question many are asking is that will the President have paid monies to the banking crisis victims if former President Mahama had not promised he will pay victims every pesewa with interest if he is voted for on 7th December? Is Nana Akufo-Addo only thinking of the next election and not of the wellbeing of the people who voted for him to become president?

Whichever way we look at the situation, the banking crisis has created a lot of visible scars, but there are more invisible ones -- the trauma and pain victims are going through because of the loss of their loved ones. This is damning, pathetic and have serious political consequences. It is unclear exactly what Nana Akufo-Addo is going to do to tip the political scale to his advantage, since he has said that he knows how to bring the economy back on track, but doesn't know how to bring dead people back to life.

The omens are bad for the President! I have heard a good number of depositors praising former President Mahama for putting pressure on President Akufo-Addo to pay their monies. They have even sworn that instead of voting for Akufo-Addo, they will rather vote for Mahama to become president so that he could pay them the interest on their investments as he has promised.

I love the lyrics of Dido's song, "Life is for rent," parts of which says that life is for rent, and we cannot deserve more than we get because nothing we have is truly ours. God is the owner of everything we think we have, and can take them back anytime He wants. That's why we shouldn't be conceited, and throw our weights about as if tomorrow belongs to us. Let's learn to be humble, let's learn to love one another, and not allow people to suffer and die when it's within our means to help them. I want to take this opportunity to remind our president that the very seat he is sitting on as president is for rent and can be taken away from him.

Anthony Obeng Afrane