Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has introduced a new corporate governance code for Ghana.
The code created by the Institute of Directors (IoD) will, among other things, establish national standards for corporate governance in the nation, encourage business and entrepreneurship, promote Ghanaian values and ethical commitments, as well as advertises Ghana as a favorable location for doing business.
Additionally, it harmonizes the various industry- and sector-specific governance codes to make compliance and referencing them easier while fostering a culture of sound corporate governance in both public and private organizations.
A representative of the Vice President, who is also the Minister of State in charge of State Enterprises, Mr. Samuel Ato Cudjoe, launched the code in Accra yesterday.
To that effect, he stated that the government was pleased to see the new code fit into its mission of encouraging good governance.
In addition, he argued that the fact that the code took into account the sustainable development goals, which are still crucial to the nation’s development agenda, was even more encouraging.
According to Mr. Cudjoe, the development of the code showed how important a role it will play in the success of professional organizations.
Furthermore, he emphasized the significance of other professional bodies following the IoD’s lead and developing professional codes to advance standards within their organizations.
The IoD would need to work with the Ministry of Education to integrate it into school curricula so that students would learn about good corporate governance, he added. The development and launch of the code merely served as the beginning of the task.
Beyond encouraging collaboration with educational institutions, according to Dr. Bawumia, it was also important to make sure that everyone could access the document.
The IoD President, Mr. Rockson Dogbegah, also claimed that with the release of the code, Ghana became the 51st nation in Africa to possess such a document.
He claimed that in addition to serving as a uniform national standard for corporate governance, the code will work to increase the attractiveness of the nation as a location for foreign investment.
Mr. Dogbegah lamented the constitutional provision mandating that the president of the nation pick CEOs at the expense of the board.
According to him, there would need to be some legal changes to overhaul those constitutional structures if the nation was to advance.
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