'If there's nothing to hide, don't keep things in the dark' — Manasseh on BoG Governor's Parliamentary appearance

Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has criticised Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga over Parliament's decision to hold the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor's appearance before the Committee of the Whole behind closed doors.

His criticism follows Wednesday's standoff in Parliament, where the Minority walked out after objecting to the exclusion of the media from proceedings involving BoG Governor Dr. Johnson Asiama.

The Minority argued that the move shielded the Governor from public scrutiny over questions on the central bank's foreign exchange operations and the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

In defence, the Majority argued that the decision was consistent with parliamentary practice for independent constitutional bodies.

However, in a social media post on Thursday, July 16, Manasseh said Ayariga's defence of the decision was unconvincing.

He questioned why the Majority was taking a position contrary to the accountability standards it once championed.

"I watched a video clip of your press conference in which you tried to defend why the Governor of the Bank of Ghana's appearance in parliament was held in camera. If you watch that clip, you will conclude the same way many Ghanaians have concluded—unconvincing. You laboured uncharacteristically and in vain to make meaning of what happened," he wrote.

The investigative journalist recalled Ayariga's previous efforts in opposition to demand accountability from the Bank of Ghana, including filing Right to Information requests and threatening to petition the Office of the Special Prosecutor over the central bank's refusal to disclose some information.

He argued that recent decisions by the Majority, including halting a motion to probe a Goldbod deal, were creating the impression that the government had something to conceal.

"The opacity creates the impression that there's something to hide. It is not good for our democracy. It heightens suspicion when, in some of these cases, there might be nothing beyond the nuisance value," Manasseh stated.