Chairman of the Sokoban Wood Village Carpenters Association, Daniel K. Dagodzo is calling on government and regulatory bodies to reinstate the licenses of banks collapsed during Ghana’s 2017-2019 banking sector cleanup, arguing that their absence has severely limited affordable credit access for small-scale artisans.
Speaking exclusively to Business Outlook Africa, Dagodzo traced the credit crisis facing artisans to the decimation of Ghana’s banking landscape, explaining that when there were more banks, competition drove interest rates down and made loans more accessible. But with fewer institutions now in the market due to the sector cleanup, that advantage has disappeared.
“At first they were a lot of banks, but just some years ago, under the former President, the Central Bank and regulators revoked the license of many banks, but they were actually the ones helping us with saving and also because they were a lot, it brought about a healthy competition and it helped us because the interest rate when it came to interest on loans there were a lot of competitive alternatives for us the names.” He stated
Beyond trade concerns, Dagodzo raised a land dispute threatening the association’s future. According to him, a plot of land secured by the Presidency some years ago at Asago for the association’s development and expansion has allegedly been taken over by a local chief who according to him ,is now selling portions to individuals. He noted that all available avenues for redress have been exhausted, with the association even facing harassment from landguards deployed to the site.
“ Our last plea is that Presidency secured a land to develop for us some time ago, at Asago, to help us expand but the Chief has currently claimed ownership of the land and is selling to individuals to build on, we’ve tried all possible means but to no avail. They even brought landguards to harass us so we are pleading with the government to please come to our aid.”
About The Author
