Yesterday I had a very interesting interaction that gave me a reality check. Sadly when you live abroad and still have interests in Ghana you have to use the international money remittance services. Consequently some have found it prudent to open accounts with the likes of MONEYGRAM etc. so that in an emergency we can remit in the shortest possible time. Over the last six weeks I have been pretty active on this remittance front, thanks to my small investments, property, family bereavement and postgraduate fees. Yesterday was one such day when I remitted over three times to three different organisations and individuals in Ghana. Whilst the recipients were at the respective banks to cash their monies, they had the rude shock of being told the reference numbers I had supplied were wrong and were giving errors. Upon receiving the information and checking my accounts to find all monies had been debited, I angrily contacted MONEYGRAM, THIS IS WHEN THE FUN STARTED. I was informed that the government in the receiving country was interfering with the money transfer process and was requesting that certain multiple transactions be blocked. I was further informed other instructions had been quietly issued affecting the LIBOR rate quotations and that as a result even the rates on sites like Oanda were compromised. This set me thinking, what sort of game is this? In my pocket economics mind, to stabilise the CEDI, the economy needs these remittance. Apart from that some recipients rely heavily on these monies. I know some would say this is being done to prevent fraud, but like I asked the customer service director of MONEYGRAM, who in his right mind would do fraud from his personal or company account thats traceable to his home address? Sadly sometimes I think the public servants who take these bogus decisions on behalf of the people of Ghana, take us for big fools. If these tricks are the reason the CEDI seems to have stabilised then, it would falter long term.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:32:41 +0000
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