Govt Orders Seven To Proceed on Leave

SEVEN heads of financial institutions have been directed by the President to proceed on leave with immediate effect.

They are Dr P. K. Kuranchie, Managing Director of Agriculture Development Bank (ADB); Mr David Adom, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Mr Charles Asare, Director-General, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT); and Mr S. Appiah Ampofo, Chief Executive, National Insurance Commission (NIC).

The rest are Mr Ebenezer Allotey, Managing Director State Insurance Company (SIC); Mr Emmanuel Coleman de Graft, Deputy Managing Director (Technical) SIC and Mr Gideon Agbemabiese, Director, Commercial Banking, National Investment Bank (NIB).

A release issued yesterday and signed by Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Media Relations, requested the affected persons to hand over their respective positions immediately.

Meanwhile, Mrs Nyameke Kyiamah, Deputy Chief Executive, NIC; Mr S. A. Welbeck, Ag. Deputy Managing Director, ADB; Mr Eric Adjei, Deputy Director-General, SSNIT; Mrs Janet Opoku Acheampong, Deputy Commissioner, IRS; Mr Victor Kusi Yeboah, General Manager, Non-Life, SIC; and Mr Simpson Kuleke, Director of Finance, NIB; are to act in the respective capacities.

The release said the appointment of Mr Malhoud K. Hantour as Adviser to the NIB had been terminated.

He has been asked to report to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to be reassigned. Mr Hantour who had been acting as the Managing Director of NIB is to hand over to Mr Kuleke.

Ghana suspends heads of six public institutions

ACCRA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Ghana's President John Kufuor on Wednesday suspended from their functions the heads of six state-run financial and insurance institutions pending an audit into their activities.

In a statement, the president asked the senior executives to "proceed on leave" with immediate effect.

"This is to enable us to audit their institutions properly," Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo told Reuters by telephone. "We haven't sacked them as such and it's not arbitrary."

Those suspended included Charles Asare, director general of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, who is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for alleged bribery and conflict of interest.

Executives at the National Insurance Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Agricultural Development Bank, the State Insurance Corporation and the National Investment Bank were also targeted.

The statement did not specify the reasons for auditing each individual organisation.

Kufuor, whose election signalled the end to President Jerry Rawlings' 19 years in power, has pledged a "zero tolerance" policy against corruption in the West African country.

A recent survey showed a majority of Ghanaians thought most public institutions were corrupt.