Speaker sets up committee to probe locked-up money of Gold Coast Fund customers

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has formed a committee to investigate the non-payment of Gold Coast Fund Management customers.

This follows a petition presented by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, on behalf of the customers.

The customers are demanding an inquiry into the government’s failure to disburse their funds despite the allocation of funds in the budget.

They also want the government to be compelled to pay their investment.

“I wish to present a petition by customers of defunct Gold Coast Fund Management. Mr Speaker, pursuant to Order 76 (3), I move that the petition be read, and I also move that by Order 76(3) that the petition be referred to a committee pursuant to Order 191 of our Standing Orders, which deals with the constitution of special or ad-hoc committees to look into matters referred to it by Mr Speaker,” the MP said.

The Speaker subsequently presented the petition to the ad-hoc committee that will be chaired by the MP of Essikado Ketan, Joe Ghartey.

“I will proceed to establish a committee to receive the petition, investigate, and report to the House, and I will propose that the committee be chaired by Joe Ghartey. The other members will include Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Benjamin Yeboah, Gizella Tetteh Agbotui, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, and two technical experts.”

He also issued a 3-month window for the submission of the committee’s report.

The customers recently had a 32-hour protest at the Ministry of Finance, demanding their locked-up investments.

About 100 people are exerting pressure on the government to address their concerns.

According to the group, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not paid its members whose funds were locked up after their picketing in October 2023.

The group said all efforts to retrieve the locked-up funds from the collapsed fund management company had proved futile.