The Minority in Parliament has suspended its participation in a Committee of the Whole meeting with Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama after the media was barred from covering the proceedings.
The closed-door briefing, held on Wednesday, July 15, followed a request by the Majority for the session to be conducted in camera. First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor subsequently ruled that journalists would not be allowed into the meeting.
Addressing a press conference after the decision, Ofoase/Ayirebi MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah questioned the justification for excluding the media, insisting that previous appearances by the Bank of Ghana Governor before Parliament had been open to public scrutiny.
According to him, the Governor’s written responses to parliamentary questions had already been published on Parliament’s Order Paper, making it difficult to understand why the oral briefing should be held behind closed doors.
“Earlier, the Governor submitted his answers, and I’m going to read to you the answers they don’t want you to hear,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said.
He argued that the published responses already addressed key issues, including the source of the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange interventions.
“The answers have already been published on the Order Paper, so they are matters that are not secret. Yes, the rules say that we have a right to open it up or not. But you have nothing to hide. In previous instances, it was opened to the public, and we are astonished and disappointed that they don’t want the media to cover the Governor’s responses,” he stated.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah further claimed that the Governor’s responses indicated that since August 2024, the central bank had not intervened directly in the foreign exchange market using its reserves but had instead relied on proceeds from its domestic gold purchase programme.
“The Bank of Ghana is here to admit that its ability to intervene in the market is as a result of the domestic gold purchase programme,” he said, questioning why the Majority would prevent the Governor from explaining the strategy publicly.
The former Information Minister also accused the central bank of failing to provide updated figures on its market interventions and said the Minority had intended to seek further clarification on the issue, as well as the Bank’s financial losses and the accuracy of some published figures.
He announced that the Minority had withdrawn from the proceedings in protest against the media restriction.
“We are here to inform you this afternoon that as a result of their decision not to allow you to cover, we have suspended our participation. Our leadership will continue to engage so that they do the right thing,” he said.
He stressed that Parliament should remain transparent and accountable, describing it as “the people’s House” where citizens deserve to hear answers to matters of national interest.
Meanwhile, the Majority Leader defended the decision, stating that holding the meeting in camera was not intended to deny the public access to information from the engagement.
