Institute of Directors to promote sound corporate governance practices

The Institute of Directors Ghana (IoD) has rolled out a number of strategic initiatives to stimulate and sustain the culture of corporate governance in the country.

The move is part of efforts to address the decline in corporate governance and leadership in various institutions across different sectors.
This was disclosed by Mr Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah, the President of the Institute, at the media launch of the maiden Directors Week celebrations initiated by the new leadership.

The Directors Week, which began on the 14th of November and will end on the 22nd, is on the theme: “Stimulating and sustaining the Culture of Sound Corporate Governance.”

Mr Dogbegah said the recent turmoil in the banking sector has brought to the fore the relevance of sound corporate governance and leadership practices.
He said although the spotlight of bad corporate governance has been on the financial sector, many other sectors have similar structural deficiencies that require urgent attention.

He said the decision to institute the Directors Week, which will be an annual event, was therefore to address the challenge and reverse the unfortunate trend.

The weeklong activities include corporate governance forum with tertiary institutions, Public–Private sector dialogue on corporate governance, an Institute of Directors Members forum and a National Corporate Governance conference to climax the celebrations.

Mr Dogbegah outlined a number of initiatives being taken to address the decline in corporate governance and leadership in Ghana.

These include advocacy for legislation to mandate continuous education, certification and licencing of directors, the institution of a corporate governance index, an award scheme to recognise quality corporate leadership as well as work with other bodies such as the National Commission for Civic Education to inculcate sound corporate governance practices and thinking into the activities of public, traditional, youth and opinion leaders.

A fellow of the Institute of Directors and renowned Management Consultant Prof John Aheto, also bemoaned the lack of appreciation for the essence of corporate governance in the country.

He said bad corporate governance practices are gravely hurting businesses and the economy at large.

He cited the disregard for procedures in many firms especially indigenous ones where owners, their wives and family members dipped their hands to company coffers without recourse to best practices.

He called for a strong national campaign to urgently promote sound corporate governance across all sectors both public and private.
As an academic, Prof Aheto called on students to research into bad and good corporate governance practices and share lessons learnt so that corporate Ghana can benefit from the findings of such researches.

He pledged to support students who opt to do thesis in corporate governance saying the level of decadence is so serious that it requires the attention of all to confront and reverse the trend.