Former Chief Executive of the now defunct UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has revealed he turned down several invitations to seek the assistance of two ‘big men’ in the country in getting back his bank.

According to him, people he knew suggested that he sought the intervention of former President John Kufuor and Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu when the Bank of Ghana in 2017 revoked the licence of UT Bank.

The businessman explained he refused the suggestions on the basis that the two were neither the governors of the Bank of Ghana nor the Finance Minister.

“When the bank was closed, people came to me and said oh, let’s go and see president Kufuor, let’s go and see Asantehene, and I said, they are not the governors, they are not minister of finance. Why should I go and see them?” he said in a TV3 interview.

He argued in the yet-to-be aired interview that such practice was not only a Ghanaian attitude but has also become an African issue.

The Ghanaian system today, he argued, does not reward hard work, indicating the system is favouring people who lie and those who are well connected to persons in high places.

Quoting an African proverb to support his claim, he said “the one who’s closer to the powers that be gets the best part of the meat. So ours is not about working hard, waking up in the morning going to catch the worm, no! It’s about having connections, lying to people and the things like that”.

Mr Amoabeng indicated even in the midst of the crisis, he resolved not to turn to politicians and people in high places, including pastors because they were going to eventually become his “head of HR” and be asking that their constituents and congregants were given employment.

Though he said he respects positions, “I wouldn’t go close to them…I don’t want to go close to a politician,” he stated in the interview that is scheduled to air on TV3 Business Focus on Monday, September 30 at 6:00 p.m.

For him, politicians do not mean well for the country for which reason he was not ready to give his money to support them to win political power to superintend over corruption.

“I said I don’t trust that they meant well for this country,” Mr Amoabeng told Paa Kwesi Asare, adding “I wasn’t going to give them my money for them to come to power and be corrupt on the people. That was my policy”.

According to him, the only time his money went into politics was when his sister, who he did not name, stood for primaries.