RC BANK IN DEEP MESS
… Urgent Bailout Needed
Ekundayo Gilpin- Managing Director
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara
From what continues to unfold at Rokel Commercial Bank, it appears that the Government of Sierra Leone through the Central Bank needs to urgently bail out one of its indigenous banks as things go from bad to worse.
For over a month now, the bank has been grappling with acute cash shortage with no hope of a solution any time soon.
Customers of the said bank have had to be forced to withdraw nothing more than two million five hundred thousand Leones (Le2, 500,000) of their hard-earned monies per day no matter the need.
In one horrible instance amongst many, a young lady in Freetown who goes by the name Aminata, lost her mother because the bank was unable to pay her the money she wanted for her mother’s medical treatment despite having more than enough money in her Rokel Commercial Bank Account.
Aminata’s case is one of the many casualties caused by the cash-drought at RCB.
Even staff of the bank are not spared by this current crisis which does not seem to end any time soon.
Customers have had to be subjected to severe constraints caused by the unwarranted shortage of cash.
It should be noted that during the festive seasons, Sierra Leoneans have had to face cash shortages in almost all banks in the country but that situation have long been stabilized leaving Rokel Commercial Bank the only bank still grappling with cash shortage.
Many are of the view that the current crisis at RCB cannot be unconnected to poor management which has now left customers of the bank in dire need of monies in their respective accounts.
RC Bank customers who spoke to Salone Compass Newspaper have called on the government through the Bank of Sierra Leone to urgently bailout the bank in order to save it from collapsing.
The Public Relations Officer of Rokel Commercial Bank in responding to the queries said the situation at RCB is not peculiar to them as cash shortage is being experienced in all the other banks in the country.
More on this story in subsequent editions.