Accra, Feb. 22, GNA – The Institute of Directors – Ghana (IoD-Gh) on Tuesday engaged stakeholders on the development of a National Corporate Governance Code (NCGC).
The NCGC Project seeks to harmonise the different industry and sector specific governance codes into a national code that will provide ease of compliance and reference to promote the culture of good corporate governance for public and private organisations.
The code will serve as a unified national corporate governance reference for good corporate governance for all stakeholders in the country.
It also seeks to enhance Ghana’s global appeal as an investment destination in conformity with international best practices.
A Technical Committee, made up of nominees from private and public stakeholder institutions across sectors of the economy, has been inaugurated to commence work on the development of the code.
Mr Rockson Dogbegah, President, IoD Ghana, speaking at the virtual engagement, said a Project Directorate had also been established to ensure a successful execution of the project in accordance with the project charter.
He said the engagement was a key milestone in developing the National Corporate Governance Code by getting feedback from all its critical stakeholders to ensure that it had the right foundation to aid its development and implementation.
One of the key expectations of the code was to ensure that all critical stakeholders were actively involved in the development of the National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana for a high implementation culture.
IoD-Gh identified weak implementation culture, politicisation, funding challenges and completion of the project on time as four main risks that may affect the project.
Therefore, he said, to guarantee successful implementation, there was a need to engage with stakeholders and involve them throughout the project development and implementation phases.
Mr Dogbegah, also the Chair of the African Corporate Governance Network (ACGN), said: “It is also expected that all the stakeholders involved in the development process of the national corporate governance code will become the key ambassadors to promote the use of the code when developed.”
To avoid politisation, he said, the Institute was treating the project as a technical project and not involving political parties and functionaries.
He said the creation of a Project Directorate, supported by a Professional Project Manager, would ensure that the project was completed on time, adding that the IoD-Gh hoped to maintain the Project Directorate for a period of three years to ensure the proper implementation of the code.
Ms Tumi Dlamini,Technical Advisor on Corporate Governance, African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) under the African Union, said the APRM had conducted reviews in over 26 countries in Africa dealing with a number of governance issues, specifically corporate governance.
She said the APRM had found that, out of the 55 member states in Africa, only 19 had put in place Codes of Corporate Governance.
The APRM, she said, had further found that there were private institutions that had come together with different stakeholders to develop codes of corporate governance in specific countries, adding that most of the codes were largely borrowed from western countries.
While it was important to learn from other economies, the Advisor on Corporate Governance, said the APRM held the view that it was important to ensure that the codes developed in Africa were fit for purpose and appropriate for the commercial environments within, which they would be applicable.
Dr Janet Ampadu-Fofie, Chairperson, Public Services Commission, in a submission, said best practices must be adoptable in the public and private sector taking into cognisance the existence of several manuals.
Therefore, she said there was the need to focus on training and re-training to enhance implementation culture of the project when fully adopted for a meaningful impact.
The stakeholders resolved that Ghana’s Code must conform to its unique identity and must be flexible enough to respond favourable to changing dynamics, insight in the corporate landscape of the country and ultimately must be drafted to influence cultural and behavioural change to enhance good corporate governance outcomes.
GNA