Edudzi Tameklo, a lawyer and member of the National Communications Team of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has strongly criticized the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for incurring losses of up to GHC 60.8 billion due to the practice of printing money for government expenditures.
He highlighted the inconsistency of the government’s decision to terminate the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) program due to alleged lack of funds, while simultaneously having a significant amount of GHC 60.8 billion available for spending.
Tameklo emphasized that the government’s decision to halt the NABCO program and owe its beneficiaries was unwarranted given the substantial financial resources available. He calculated that the losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana in the financial year could cover the monthly stipends of all NABCO trainees, which amount to GHC 700, for a period of sixty years.
Speaking on TV 3’s New Day program on August 14, 2023, Tameklo criticized the Bank of Ghana’s approach of printing money to fulfill government’s financial needs, as it had been suggested earlier by a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). He labeled this approach as reckless and argued that it had resulted in the bank’s financial distress.
Tameklo’s stance is rooted in his perspective that the significant losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana should have been directed toward maintaining and supporting the NABCO program, which aimed to address youth unemployment. The NABCO program, launched in 2018, sought to create a hundred thousand jobs in various areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, revenue generation, digitization, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.
Despite the initial objectives, the NABCO program was phased out after three years, leaving many beneficiaries without their owed allowances. The criticism voiced by Edudzi Tameklo sheds light on the perceived disconnect between government decisions, financial priorities, and the impact on vital youth employment initiatives.
