The Minority in Parliament has threatened to sue the Agricultural Bank of Ghana(Adb) if it fails to seek Parliamentary approval before floating its shares.
“…If steps are not taken to seek prior Parliamentary approval, the Minority shall proceed to restrain you and your assign agents, body or authority from going ahead with said transaction without recourse to you,” a statement issued by the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and signed by a solicitor for the party, Alex Afenyo Markin indicated.
[contextly_sidebar id=”85zgNZTc94kbM4jP3Z19oa938rPXxSTK”]The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently gave Adb the approval to go ahead and offer its shares to the public.
The bank is expected to offload a little over 100 million shares to the public by the end of this month with the hope to give out 75 percent of the Bank and raise about 300 million Ghana cedis.
Proceeds from the offer are expected to expand the bank’s operations.
However the party pointed out that the intention of the bank to float shares and participate in trading on the Stock Exchange Market “requires parliamentary approval under Article 181 of the 1992 constitution.”
Afenyo Markin said government owns 52% of the shareholding, with the remaining 48% held by the Financial Investment Trust on behalf of the Bank of Ghana.
“Over 50% of the shares of the Bank is owned by the people of Ghana represented by the government and the remaining in the name of the Bank of Ghana although there is no evidence on record that said shares were paid for by the latter.”
It said “as much as the intention of the Bank and its management to go public is a laudable one, it cannot override an express constitutional provision, cabinet approval notwithstanding”
Aside this warning , staff of the bank have called for a dissolution of the board and dismissal of the Chief Executive Officer of the bank.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah