Scores of aggrieved customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management have called on the government through the Ministry of Finance to free their locked-up funds. They made the call on Monday at the beginning of a 48-hour picketing of the Ministry of Finance. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in accordance with Section 122 (2) (b) of the Securities Industry Act 2016, (Act 929) (SIA) on November 8, 2019, announced the revocation of 53 fund management companies, which included the Gold Coast fund Management. That, according to the Commission, was due to significant breaches of applicable rules that created risks to financial stability and their inability to return clients’ funds totaling GHC 8 billion. Parliament in 2021 approved the disbursement of GHS 5.5 billion to all investors of the 47 companies after a review of the SEC decision. As at March 2023, SEC in a statement indicated that Government was yet to release the full GHS 5.5 billion to the implementing agencies that included the Amalgamated Fund and GCB Capital limited for the bailout. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Charles Nyame, Convener of the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management, indicated that though they were yet to receive their funds, it was worrying for government to claim that it had paid GHS26 billion in a financial sector clean up. ‘When you try to digest the component of this GHS26 billion that the government claimed it has spent, our approved 8.6 billion that is supposed to be paid to fund management has been calculated as part of the 26 billion that has been spent and these monies have not reached us.’ Mr Enoch Naah Newman, a pensioner and former staff of Total Ghana Limited, said his woes started with the financial sector clean up. He urged the government to work on restoring the economy and pay up affected parties in the financial sector cleanup. ‘Previously, we were informed during the 2020 election that every pensioner will be paid. So, we proceeded with that to go for validation process to ensure that everyone is paid. ‘After the process, we received GHS 50,000 and that was all we received. Even till now, some people haven’t received any money yet because they were still going through the validation process and the government stopped it. Now the government is claiming everyone has been paid,’ he said. Madam Cecilia Ansah, an aggrieved investor and a trader, said the current economic predicament had forced her to withdraw all her children from private schools. ‘My coming here is because of own money. Ken Ofori-Atta said the monies have been paid, but I have not seen any money. These are my receipts, if he pays me, I will go home and take care of my children,’ she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency