Dr. Papa Kwesi Ndoum, Chairman of Groupe Ndoum and former owner of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management Company, has asserted that the government owes his companies and subsidiaries over GH¢7 billion. This substantial debt, he claims, has significantly contributed to the financial woes faced by his businesses.

In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the licenses of 53 fund management companies, including Gold Coast Fund Management, leading to the freezing of depositors’ funds. Despite efforts to retrieve their investments, depositors and investors have faced significant challenges.

In a bid to revive his companies, Dr. Ndoum has urged the government to reimburse contractors who borrowed from Groupe Ndoum. “A debt that used to be GH¢1.8 billion is now more than GH¢7.1 billion. It is growing every day with interest. If the government of Ghana and its agencies had paid even one-third of that money to the contractors six years ago, there wouldn’t be a Gold Coast or Black Shield problem,” Dr. Ndoum said. He emphasized that the timely payment of these debts could have prevented the financial instability of his companies.

Dr. Ndoum suggests that the government should either settle the debt or establish a payment plan. “They pay us, the customers get paid,” he added, highlighting the cascading benefits of resolving the outstanding debts.

The financial difficulties of Dr. Ndoum’s companies are partly rooted in the government’s banking sector clean-up in 2019, which saw GN Bank, rebranded as GN Savings and Loans, lose its operating license due to insolvency issues as determined by the Bank of Ghana.