Ahafo-Ano Rural Bank faces eminent collapse
Shareholders of the Ahafo-Ano Premier Rural bank based in Kumasi are appealing to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to intervene to save the bank from the “incompetent” hands of its management team.
The shareholders are blaming the interim management committee put in place since 2003 for cronyism in the granting of loans and for failing to turn the fortunes of the Bank around thereby leading it into serious financial loss.
“Since 2003 the interim management has proved beyond all doubt that it cannot salvage the mess it has created, let alone perform to give us dividends on our investment. “From our records, as at 31 December 2003, the bank incurred a loss of 51 million old cedis and as at 31 December 2003 the debt had increased to over one billion old cedis.”
In a petition copied to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and signed on behalf of some 450 shareholders by Mr. Nkrumah Christopher and others, a number of individuals were listed as having been granted loans but failed to repay them. These individuals, the shareholders alleged, are cronies of members of the management team. “The supervising manager, granted unauthorized loan of over 240 million to his girlfriend, and the lady is no where to be found.”
Furthermore, the petition said, during an Annual General Meeting, the general house resolved to dissolve the interim management team since the accounts rendered failed to meet expectations of shareholders.
However, “the bank of Ghana representative refused the motion to dissolve the interim board on the grounds that it was the bank of Ghana which had elected them, therefore no one has the mandate to dissolve them, and this brought the meeting to an abrupt end.” “Yet concrete report reaching us indicates that the bank had performed badly due to the incompetence of the interim Board/management committee and has led the Bank to lose over four (4) billion old cedis ”
They are thus calling on the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to “send a team of auditors to assess the causes of financial losses the interim management has incurred since they were brought to the organization so that the law of the land may have its way with them.” In so doing, the supervising manager should “temporarily vacate his post for the auditors to go through the books. Also, we the shareholders have firmly decided that we do not need the interim Board in the Bank anymore.”
The Ahafo-Ano Rural bank was established over twenty years ago and currently has six branches all in the Ashanti Region. In 2003, the Board and Management was dissolved and replaced by this interim Board/management committee with Mr. Nunu Fio as Supervising Manager.
Source: Public Agenda