Appointments to state-owned institutions must be on merit — Dr Ankrah
An investment banker has called on the government to appoint people on merit to man state-owned institutions.
Advertisement
Dr Samuel Ankrah, who made the call with specific reference to the establishment of Ghana’s Exim Bank, said appointing the right calibre of Ghanaians (instead of relying on their political affiliations) to serve in such important institutions would be the best way to enable those appointees to succeed.
“The Exim bank concept is fantastic and the government requires a lot of commendation for setting it up,” he said, and added that “all Ghanaians need is for the government to ensure that the people appointed to run the bank at the board and executive levels have the expertise to make it succeed because through that we can help alleviate poverty from the society”.
Dr Ankrah was speaking at the Impact Africa Summit Ghana held in Accra yesterday. The event, which attracted captains of industry, high- profile economists, lawyers and personalities from the academia, also served as a platform to honour distinguished personalities in the country for their varied contributions to the growth of the economy.
The laureates included former President John Agyekum Kufuor; President of the Central University, Professor Kwesi Yankah; the Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey; President of World Trade Centre, Accra, Togbui Afede XIV; Chief Technology Officer, Logical Limited, Farida Bedwei; and President, Family Health Medical Services, Professor Enyonam Yao Kwawukume.
Dr Ankrah, who is also the founder of the New Africa Mobility Fund (NAM) - established to contribute and align investments towards upward mobility across the African landscape, bemoaned the fact that “the creation of EXIM Bank by the government is a laudable project which needs to be applauded by us all. However, we can only hope and pray that the purpose for which it was set up will be maintained so that we do not deviate from its core values/purposes and also become a benefit to only ‘certain people’.”
Transformation
On the transformation of Africa and for that matter Ghana, he said “we should focus on supporting development opportunities, enhancing economic opportunities by reducing vulnerability of the poor along with providing a consistent long-term return to our investments.”
Dr Ankrah said in pushing towards Ghana’s agenda to transform the future of the country and Africa as a whole, there was the need to foster development across the entire spectrum.
“We all know there are many other areas to consider in this quest. However, one key area which has built and continue to build all other continents is still missing here and not promoted in all our endeavours,” he said.
SDGs
On the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr Ankrah said the concept made a strong case for engaging businesses, not governments, even though the latter remained a key stakeholder in the delivery of its goals.
He said the UN General Assembly had endorsed a framework for financing development by providing a strong foundation to support implementation of the post-2015 development agenda which would include a new global framework for financing sustainable development by aligning all financing flows and policies with economic, social and environmental priorities.
As a result, he prescribed some antidotes and stressed the need for governments to unlock the transformative potential of the private sector; inviting businesses to apply their creativity and innovation towards solving sustainable development challenges and to engage as partners in the development process.
Dr Ankrah said placing emphasis on country-level leadership to build ownership and ensure prioritisation of goals and targets in local context were also critical.