In a rare and revealing escalation of boardroom unrest, Ghana’s most ambitious development finance institution, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG), is now at the centre of a governance and financial scandal that could shake the foundations of donor-backed development banking in the country.
A confidential progress report by Deloitte, dated May 21, 2025, has exposed wide-ranging internal failures and questionable financial decisions, prompting government action to remove some board members and alert international funders. The report, shared with Ghana’s new administration and key development finance institutions (DFIs) such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank (EIB), KfW (Germany), and the African Development Bank (AfDB), followed months of internal whistleblowing, management pushback, and quiet diplomatic alarm.
The disclosures which was initially brought to light by Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Africa and a prominent Ghanaian public interest advocate, through a series of investigative blogs (brightsimons.com) and public commentary via his handle @BBSimons, Simons has chronicled what he describes as an “attempted looting” of the Bank, buttressed by Deloitte’s findings.
“This is not just about overspending. It’s about deliberate weakening of controls and side-stepping accountability structures built into Ghana’s most internationally scrutinised financial institution,” Simons said in a November 2024 exposé.
Internal War, Resignations, and a Deloitte Panic
The crisis within DBG first emerged publicly in late 2024, when two directors abruptly resigned in protest over what insiders characterised as a refusal by the board majority to uphold fiduciary standards. According to Simons, the institution was riven by “civil war” between a group of internal compliance, risk, and audit officers on one side, and the dominant bloc of the board and senior management on the other.
Despite mounting pressure from DFIs and local civil society actors, DBG’s board initially responded with denial and what some insiders termed “gaslighting,” refusing to acknowledge internal governance breakdowns. It was not until January 2025 that the board reluctantly brought in Deloitte to conduct an independent investigation.
But even the investigative process was fraught. Sources familiar with the situation told NorvanReports that the initial drafts from Deloitte caused “pandemonium” within DBG’s leadership, resulting in multiple redrafts before a “progress report” was finally circulated to select government officials and international stakeholders in May.
What the Deloitte Report Found: A System in Disarray
While couched in professional restraint and scattered with management justifications, the report nonetheless reveals a catalogue of governance dysfunction and financial recklessness. Among the most disturbing findings:
Overruled Oversight: Board members who attempted to verify the cost structure of contracts and IT systems were outvoted by the majority, raising serious questions about fiduciary discipline.
Arbitrary Budgeting: DBG’s IT budget was pegged to a percentage of total assets—a method described by experts as highly irregular and disconnected from operational needs. This budgeting formula created significant inflation in ICT spend.
The Temenos Controversy: Procurement and pricing of the Bank’s Temenos core banking platform exhibited a $6 million discrepancy linked to intermediary vendor BizTech. Deloitte noted the absence of direct engagement with the original supplier to resolve the pricing anomaly.
Bypassing Legal Review: Several vendor contracts were signed without review by DBG’s legal department. When discovered, management initiated retroactive legal reviews, a practice that undermines contractual integrity and compliance.
AWC Deliverables Gap: Discrepancies between vendor AWC’s reported progress and independently verified deliverables could expose the Bank to losses in the millions.
“These findings show that DBG was not only spending with little scrutiny, but actively undermining its own internal control systems,” said a civil society source briefed on the report.
Management Spin, DFIs on Alert, and the Role of Government
The Deloitte report, while unambiguous in its identification of missteps, is also criticised for including what some see as excessive “management rationalisations” in an attempt to dilute its more damning implications. Yet, facts in the document, supported by financial records, emails, and board minutes, speak louder than the excuses.
The Ghanaian government’s decision to begin removing some board members was directly linked to the circulation of this progress report. According to NorvanReports sources in the Ministry of Finance, the government is now involving national security and investigative bodies to supplement Deloitte’s limited mandate, which was constrained by its status as a private auditor.
The World Bank and other DFIs have reportedly expressed concerns over not only the mismanagement of funds but the reputational damage to development finance as a whole. There are fears that unless accountability is enforced, Ghana’s standing in international financial markets could suffer, especially with donor confidence already under strain.
A Larger Crisis in Ghana’s State-Led Development Model?
The DBG saga fits a pattern observed in other state-owned entities across Ghana’s financial and infrastructure sectors, where international capital is marshalled under the banner of national development, only to be eroded by localised rent-seeking, board complacency, and executive excess.
Bright Simons, whose exposés have often preceded official investigations, argues that this latest episode should force a rethinking of how Ghana manages institutions with global backing:
“Development finance is not just about capital. It’s about trust. You don’t just lose money through bad procurement; you lose your credibility in front of your most important financial partners.”
With further revelations from the Deloitte report expected, and law enforcement agencies now circling, DBG’s experiment in sovereign development banking may become a cautionary tale, one that risks squandering not just dollars, but a decade of progress in institution building.
Source: NorvanReports
