A Banking Consultant, Dr Richmond Atuahene has stated that the appointment of Tweneboah Kodua Fokuo as Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB) by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) suggests that he may have fulfilled all the requirements of the central bank for the top job.
The Minority in parliament is opposed to the appointment, saying it is not the best corporate decision for a struggling national bank to be headed by a parliamentary candidate who is focused on winning political power.
The new MD, who until his appointment was the Deputy MD of the bank, is the governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for Manso Nlwanta in the Ashanti Region.
However, Dr Atuahene explained that once the new MD has met all the criteria set to head a bank, the call for his removal is not justified.
Speaking to JoyNews on Tuesday, May 14, he explained that in 2019, the central bank established a number of criteria that an individual must possess for specific positions.
“The minimum assessment criteria for the Bank of Ghana; the financial integrity of that person, the reputation, academic or professional qualification, experience, it goes on to talk about conflict and what the young man and whoever is going to do.
“If Bank of Ghana has deemed it fit and let him pass through this seven or eight criteria, I find it very difficult for people arguing because the directives have also been established 2019, that if you want to be a CEO these are the things that you are required to pass through. If you use conflict of interest, it doesn’t exist.
“The man has time commitment because Bank of Ghana would have tested all these things and found that he is capable,” he added.
The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, is the first to have raised alarm over the appointment questioning why the Bank of Ghana approved him for the role considering that he would be engaged in rigorous campaigning for political office.
But Mr Kodua Fokuo has assured that he was a good manager of his time and can therefore juggle both roles. He stressed that none would conflict with the other.