The Director-General of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), John Boadu, has defended the appointment of Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo as the Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB).
According to him, the accusations that Mr. Fokuo is a parliamentary candidate and therefore shouldn’t have been appointed lack merit.
In a memo sent to the staff of the bank, Mr. Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo took over from Mr. Samuel Sarpong as the Managing Director of the NIB.
His appointment took effect on Monday, May 13, 2024. According to the bank, Mr. Fokuo was appointed by “the majority shareholder.”
The newly appointed MD is also the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for the Manso Nkwanta Constituency in the Ashanti region.
His appointment as the MD has sparked concerns and criticism, especially from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Moreover, critics have questioned the Bank of Ghana’s decision to approve a parliamentary candidate as the Chief Executive of a struggling state bank in an election year.
However, the former NPP General Secretary maintains that there’s nothing wrong with the appointment of Mr. Fokuo, despite the state of NIB.
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He said that since Mr. Fokuo holds the requisite qualifications, there’s no problem with the appointment.
“We are all concerned about the health of NIB and their financial situation is not very good as we speak. I will entertain any argument that says that by his experience and qualification, he is incapable of managing, restructuring NIB, but for the mere fact that he is a parliamentary candidate begs the question,” he said.
Also, Mr. Boadu insists that arguments about Mr. Fokuo’s dual role were “out of place since some legislators double as heads of government institutions.”
Mr. John Boadu added, “We have Member of Parliaments who are ministers; with some of them holding ministries which are sensitive. We have a Finance Minister who is a Member of Parliament. He has been going for campaign. So I think that they can further come up with other reasons rather than just election. We even have a Vice President who is a presidential candidate.”
The Minority Caucus has strongly objected to the appointment of the NPP parliamentary candidate as Managing Director of the bank.
They argue that such appointments erode public confidence in the government’s capacity to handle national resources competently.
