New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate has taken a strong stand against John Dramani Mahama's proposal to reinstate the licenses of certain defunct financial institutions.

During the NDC’s manifesto launch in Winneba, Mahama pledged to restore these licenses, alleging they were wrongfully revoked by the NPP administration.

In response, Dr. Bawumia, in a recent media interaction, expressed astonishment at Mahama's promise.

He argued that the NPP's interventions were crucial in safeguarding the savings of 4.6 million customers who faced potential losses had the banks not been restructured.

Dr. Bawumia detailed that many of the troubled banks had been involved in serious financial misconduct, including exceeding loan limits, mishandling capital, and misappropriating funds for personal ventures.

He emphasized that these measures were essential to avert a broader financial crisis and maintain stability in the banking sector.

He urged Mahama to review the findings of the Receiver and the Bank of Ghana reports for a comprehensive understanding of the situation before making further statements.

“We saved the deposits of 4.6 million bank depositors who really were going to lose their deposits if those banks were not saved. I don’t understand whether the former president has taken his time to understand the banking sector. Some atrocious things and this is why these banks had to be saved.

“They were not collapsed, they were merged into other banks and no banking depositor lost 1 cedi, everybody maintained. But very bad things happened, some of the banks broke all the rules and extended loans way above the single obligor limits.”

“They were given, in some cases 1 billion by the Bank of Ghana to help them out of the mess and they only got deeper into the situation. Other banks were given capital to save the situation, and they used that money to set up Capital Bank, instead of rescuing the problem that they had. They took the money from the central bank and set up another business which also collapsed. Some took money and invested in private properties.”

“So, it was against this background that the governor came to report, and this was one of my nightmares in the last eight years. Most people didn’t understand how close we were to a collapse of the entire banking system.

This is how we had to merge many of these banking sectors into other banks, and we saved 4.6 million depositors.”

“I’ll ask the former president if he hasn’t read, to go and read the receiver’s report or the BoG’s report and acquaint himself before making any further comments on matters he clearly doesn’t understand.

He needs to get an understanding before making further comments, and he cannot hand over a bank’s license to them, this is subject to legal procedure.