News:
July 15, 2026
Accuses Majority of hiding the truth about central bank’s foreign exchange operations and mounting losses
Parliament descended into chaos on Wednesday as the Minority Caucus staged a walkout from a Committee of the Whole session, accusing the Majority of deliberately excluding the media to conceal the Bank of Ghana’s responses to critical questions about the management of the country’s foreign reserves.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin told journalists that the Majority had ordered the media out of the chamber moments before the Governor of the Bank of Ghana was set to deliver answers to parliamentary questions. The Minority Leader said he spent nearly an hour pleading with the Majority to allow coverage, to no avail.
“We are astonished and disappointed that they don’t want the media to cover the responses that the governor is about to give,” Afenyo-Markin declared. “This is the house of accountability. This is the people’s house. This is where the people must hear the answers to all of these questions.”
The questions at the centre of the dispute relate to the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange market interventions. Afenyo-Markin revealed that the Minority had filed three specific questions: the source of foreign exchange used for market interventions, the framework guiding those interventions, and the total amount of reserves injected into the market in an attempt to stabilise the cedi.
According to the Minority Leader, the answers the Governor had already submitted — and which were published on the parliamentary order paper — contain a significant admission. The Bank of Ghana states that since August 2024, it has not undertaken direct market interventions, and that its foreign exchange operations have instead been executed through the domestic gold purchase programme.
“The governor is here to admit that the ability to intervene on the market is as a result of the domestic gold purchase programme,” Afenyo-Markin said. “Is it because they are afraid that if that is said, it will become glaringly clear that the person responsible for this is Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia? Is that the reason for which they are clearing the media from the gallery?”
The Minority Leader further alleged that the Majority was attempting to prevent the Governor from revealing the full extent of losses at the central bank. He noted that the Bank of Ghana had recently presented what he described as an “understated loss” to Parliament, and that the Finance Minister had made a presentation on the matter. “We are observing more losses that are happening there and they know that governor will be requested to answer and he cannot lie,” Afenyo-Markin asserted.
He also accused the central bank of deliberately cutting off timelines in its responses, noting that questions about injections up to April 2025 had been answered without providing the latest figures. “They know that the follow-up questions will come,” he said, “and so they are on this exercise to ensure that the media does not cover what is happening.”
Afenyo-Markin pointed out that in previous appearances by the Governor, as well as when the Electoral Commission Chair appeared before Parliament, the media had been allowed to cover proceedings live. “What is it that they are afraid of that now they don’t want you to cover?” he asked.
The Minority Leader said the caucus had suspended its participation in the session, adding that leadership would continue to engage with the Majority to ensure the right thing is done. “We leave the jury out to decide,” he concluded.
Ghanamps.com