I listened to one Nana Otuo Acheampong on Newsfile today, Saturday, 05/01/2019 on the status of banking in the country as of today and I kept asking myself if Ghana’s banking sector is NOT being deliberately colonised or taken over by expatriate banks.

From his submissions, these were the key points I noted. As of 14th August 2017, Ghana had 36 UNIVERSAL BANKS (full banks not savings and loans schemes etc). Out of which 19 of them were Ghanaian majority-owned banks representing 52.8% and 17 international or foreign banks representing 47.2%.

By August 2018, one clear year under President Akufo Addo, the total number of UNIVERSAL BANKS reduced to 30. Out of that total, the number of local banks reduced to 13 representing 43.3% and international or foreign banks were still 17, representing 56.7%.

As of 31st December 2018, the total number of UNIVERSAL BANKS in Ghana further reduced to 23. Out of this total number, the local banks or indigenous Ghanaian banks have further fallen in number to 9 banks, representing 39.1% and the international or foreign banks also now 14 banks representing 60.9%.

Therefore, the total number of UNIVERSAL BANKS in Ghana are 23, out of which 9 are local banks and 14 are international banks.

Now, this is a government that claims they want to empower Ghanaian-owned businesses and companies, but the reality on the ground points to the reverse, looking at this banking sector for example.

Nobody is saying that BoG should shirk its supervisory or regulatory mandate or authority, but some of these banks appeared to have been targeted politically by the NPP government of the day for obvious political reasons.

It’s common knowledge that expatriate companies prefer to repatriate their business proceeds outside the jurisdiction they operate in for strategic reasons.

So, are we not as a country making ourselves poorer and rather enriching the expatriate companies or businesses? Are we not re-colonising ourselves economically?

Where does this fit in with the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ mantra by President Akufo Addo and NPP?

I am a citizen-BM