A number of Ghanaians on social media have expressed outrage at the Bank of Ghana’s justification for spending a whopping €450,000 - an equivalent of Gh¢2 million on gold watches for its retiring staff.

A statement released by the Communication Department of the Central Bank yesterday (Wednesday) explained that per the tradition of the Central Bank, they award to staff of the Bank who has served in the institution for thirty years or more.

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“End of service benefits, as part of the conditions of service for staff, is a longstanding tradition of the Bank, an obligation the Bank has always fulfilled to boost staff morale and commitment to the goals and ideals of the institution. The award scheme has been the convention of the Bank since the 1970s.”

The statement also added that the procurement process was started before the current governor of the bank took over.

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Media reports suggest that some documents making the rounds indicate that the Central Bank sent a request to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to sole source the watches from a Swiss watch Company.

But the Bank argued that they went through the required process to procure the watches.