Meet The 10 Independent Directors of the BoG Who Allegedly Receive US$8,000 Monthly

On Wednesday, August 9, 2023, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, posted on Twitter, drawing attention to the independent directors of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and what they are paid monthly.

This was on the back of the 2022 annual report by the BoG in which the apex bank announced a loss of US$6 billion (approximately GH¢60 billion) within the period, citing the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) as a major contributor to the losses.

In the tweet, Bright Simons alleged that each independent director on the board of the Bank of Ghana is paid US$8,000 each month.

He added that the amount is on the high side, in comparison with other African countries, pointing out the cases especially in Nigeria and Kenya.

But who are these 10-member independent directors of the Bank of Ghana?

According to a photo attached to his tweet, the following are the members of directors of the BoG who are allegedly paid that amount monthly:

Charles Adu Boahen, Non-Executive Director

Charles Adu Boahen is a former Deputy Minister of Finance.

He once worked for the Standard Bank in South Africa as a director and regional head of corporate & investment banking.

Joseph Blignam Alhassan, Non-Executive Director

Joseph Alhassan is a a business executive, according to details online.

Dr. Samuel Nii-Noi Ashong, Non-Executive Director

Dr. Samuel Nii-Noi Ashong is a Finance Expert. He has been engaged in public sector economic policy advisory and policy with the Ministry of Finance, economic policy analysis and consulting services with the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) and university teaching and administration work with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

Dr. Ashong has experience in corporate business analysis, market research and telecommunications tariff regulation from the AT & T Communications. He served as a Member of the Boards of the Ghana Commercial Bank, Venture Capital Trust Fund, Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Finance Ministerial Advisory Board, National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), GIMPA and the PURC Technical Committee.

Dr. Kwame Nyantekyi-Owusu, Non-Executive Director

Dr. Kwame Nyantekyi-Owusu is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Inter-Afrique Group. For decades, Dr. Nyantekyi-Owusu has provided leadership and direction to the Group with strategic decisions and innovative investment strategy, and he is the builder of the group’s corporate foundation.

Prior to setting up Inter-Afrique Group in 1985, Dr. Nyantekyi-Owusu was the Resident Director in Zimbabwe for two years for the High Point Group, a UK-based engineering services consultancy.

Dr. Nyantekyi-Owusu has served on the boards of several companies including the Ghana Venture Capital Fund, the Venture Fund Management Company Limited, the Securities Discount Company Limited and Databank Brokerage Limited. Currently, he serves as the Vice Chairman of Midway Resources International – a privately held E & P Company focused on developing oil and gas opportunities in West Africa.

Comfort F. A. Ocran, Non-Executive Director

Comfort Ocran is the Chief Executive Officer of Legacy and Legacy. Besides, she is the Administrative Director of Springboard Roadshow Foundation. Springboard Roadshow Foundation is a youth development and a mentoring stage.

Andrew A. Boye-Doe, Non-Executive Director

Andrew Boye-Doe was called to the Bar in 1983 and his particular practice areas are Corporate, Commercial Law, Banking and Finance: Service and Regulatory, Capital Market, Project Finance, Oil and Gas, Corporate restructuring and Insolvency.

Mr Boye-Doe is an Associate Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London and was a Chevening Scholar and British Council Fellow at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary and the Law Department, London School of Economics, University of London.

Boye-Doe was the Head of the Legal Department and General Counsel, Bank of Ghana and has been the Secretary of the Central Bank. He is a Non – Executive Director on the Board of Bank of Ghana. He has been a Non – Executive Director of the Financial Intelligence Center, Ghana and has held or holds directorships in Insurance and Capital Market companies.

Jude Kofi Bucknor, Non-Executive Director

Jude Kofi Buknor is an investment banker with extensive international banking, corporate finance and emerging markets experience. Bucknor obtained a BSc in Administration from the University of Ghana in 1977. As a student he worked for the Northern Ireland Electricity Service, Belfast, Merchant Bank Ghana and the First Boston Corporation in New York.

He began his professional career at Chemical Bank in New York in 1979 after obtaining an MBA in Finance from Columbia University in New York. At Chemical Bank he became Vice President in 1981. He joined the African Development Bank in Abidjan as Deputy Treasurer in 1986, becoming Treasurer from 1990 to 1994. Bucknor returned to Ghana as Managing Director of CAL Merchant Bank until 2000 when he formed his own corporate finance advisory firm J. Kofi Bucknor & Associates.

Prof. Eric Osei-Assibey, Non-Executive Director

Professor Eric Osei-Assibey is an Associate Professor of Economics, University of Ghana, and a former Head of the Department of Distance Education of the same University. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Accra and a Non-resident Research Fellow at the CEQ Institute, Tulane University, USA. Prof. Osei-Assibey holds PhD in Development Economics from, Nagoya University. He is a Post-Graduate Scholar at the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) at the Brown University, USA, where he studied ‘Development and Inequality in the Global South’.

Professor Osei-Assibey’s research interests are in monetary policy, banking regulations and financial inclusion issues. He is also an expert in development macroeconomic and fiscal policy issues, international finance issues, poverty and social protection issues. He has published extensively in leading international journals such as the Saving and Development Journal, Journal of Financial Economic Policy, International Journal of Finance and Economics, International Journal of Financial Services Management, Journal of International Development, Journal of Economic Studies, Review of Development Economics, The Development Journal, International Journal of Social Economics, etc.

Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh, Non-Executive Director

Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh is a Ghanaian business leader and Microsoft’s Strategic Partnership Lead for Africa. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was the Executive Director/Regional Head for IBM North, East and West Africa from 2020 to 2021. She is the former Country General Manager for Ghana.

Dr. Regina Ohene-Darko Adutwum, Non-Executive Director

Regina Ohene-Darko Adutwum is currently Director at Bank of Ghana.