Artiste manager, Nana Asiamah Hanson, known in showbiz circles as Bulldog, has launched a scathing attack on the government for what he believes is their unfair treatment of gold trading company, Menzgold, and its CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah.
It emerged on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had ordered Menzgold suspend its gold trading operations with the public.
According to the SEC, Menzgold has been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns for clients without a valid license from them.
The SEC’s directives and the responses from the company have received mixed public reactions with some applauding the regulator for its actions, while others have described it as a witch-hunt.
Bulldog, who works under Zylofon Media, a media and entertainment company owned by Mr. Appiah Mensah, appears to side with the latter argument, laying into the government and President Nana Akufo-Addo who he says is on a deliberate mission to sabotage young Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
“Ghana, the only place where fathers envy their sons, mothers envy their daughters, pastors extort from their congregation. Ghana is the only place where leaders don’t care, grown folks don’t care about the youth. That’s Ghana. Did we tell our leaders to waste their youth when they were our age so that when they grow old they’ll be greedy and spoil everything we have? Why? I don’t understand. God, I know that you aren’t in Ghana. Deliver us from evil, deliver us from these leaders.”
“A young man 34 or 35 years old, has found ways to heal our financial situation. He set up a company where people take the little they have to make what they can. Even people who don’t have jobs try to save and invest in Menzgold. People pay school fees, pay hospital bills. People live on what they make from this and we want to shut him down and cause panic. What has he done?”
Bulldog added that the approach of the regulatory bodies towards Menzgold is unfortunate, and even accused the President and his appointees of trying to sabotage Menzgold while they enjoyed the perks of their positions despite “doing nothing.”
“Even if he did something dubious, is this how to go about things? Meanwhile, the person hasn’t done anything dubious, stolen anyone’s money or broken any laws. This government has come and TV stations are closing down and everyone is complaining. Sometimes I wonder if you [President Akufo-Addo] go to the office. The 50 billion dollars that you are going for from China. That’s easy money for Nana Appiah Mensah to make through trading and you don’t need 100 years to pay for it. You should just sit down with him and let him teach you. Even the Ghana Beyond Aid you talk about, you don’t understand it. Which aid? Is it the same aid you’re going for?
“Everything is messing up and the place where people are making something, you want to shut it down. But you will take your money every month for doing nothing, drive V8s, use our fuel for doing nothing.”
According to the SEC, Menzgold’s actions are in contravention of “section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
The company has however been cleared to continue its “other businesses of assaying, purchasing gold from small-scale miners and export of gold.”
After initially indicating that it was still open for business, the company has eventually suspended any new business related to its Gold vault market temporarily.
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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citinewsroom.com/Ghana