OPINION: Sylvester Mensah does not qualify to lead Ghana EXIM Bank
The letter from the Office of the President appointing Sylvester Mensah as the acting chief executive officer of Ghana EXIM Bank was copied to the Trade instead of the Finance Minister
Following Sylvester Mensah’s appointment as the acting chief executive officer of the Ghana Export-Import Bank (Ghana EXIM Bank), Whispers Media Network and Research Centre launched an investigation into his background to ascertain whether he has the right qualifications to lead the bank, among other pertinent matters.
The letter from the Office of the President appointing Mensah as the acting CEO of Ghana EXIM Bank was copied to the Trade Minister instead of the Finance Minister.
The Ministry of Finance has always been responsible for Ghana EXIM Bank, not the Ministry of Trade.
Arguably, Sylvester Mensah has been appointed to the wrong job.
Problems of age
WMN found out that the acting CEO is 61 years old.
Under Ghana’s banking and financial laws, he could only have been appointed on a contract basis.
Sylvester Mensah is not on contract but has been appointed permanently by President John Dramani Mahama to serve for the four years of the president’s tenure.
Questionable eligibility
For an individual to be appointed as chief executive officer of a financial services institution, one must meet the requirements set by the Bank of Ghana. A CEO for a bank should have minimum experience of ten years.
WMN has discovered that Sylvester Mensah has just four years’ working experience at management level at Intercontinental Bank. This makes him ineligible to be appointed chief executive officer of Ghana EXIM Bank.
The Corporate Governance Directive 2018 for the banking and financial services industries in Ghana states as follows:
“Every Regulated Financial Institution shall submit to the Bank of Ghana, before it appoints a Key Management Personnel, a comprehensive report on the due diligence conducted on proposed nominees as Key Management Personnel. This submission shall be made in conjunction with the requirements of Section 60 of Act 930 [the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act 2016].”
Clearly, Sylvester Mensah has not met the threshold established by the central bank for him to lead Ghana EXIM Bank as its chief executive. His appointment was made in breach of the provisions, as shown above.
Appointment not yet approved by board and PSC
WMN also found out that although Sylvester Mensah’s appointment is yet to be approved and confirmed in the new role by the yet-to-be-constituted board of directors of Ghana EXIM Bank and the Public Services Commission, he has been taking decisions, in contravention of his acting position.
The acting chief executive has no right to hire or fire, but this is exactly what Sylvester Mensah has been doing since he was appointed.
Appointment of managers
Our checks show that the acting CEO has recruited five people at the senior management level. He has no such right to employ new people permanently.
Questions have been asked about the qualifications of all five individuals.
These appointments also breach regulation 47 of the Corporate Governance Directive 2018 covering the banking business, which stipulates that all regulated financial institutions are required to submit to the Bank of Ghana a comprehensive report on the due diligence carried out on nominees identified for appointment as key management personnel before they appoint such key members of management.
Again, the submissions were supposed to be made in line with the diktats of Section 60 of Act 930. This was never done before the five recruits, all of them allegedly unqualified, were appointed.
Terminations of appointment
The acting CEO has embarked on a spree of terminations of appointment for individuals who were employed permanently between July and September 2024.
Chief executive officers, WMN can state authoritatively, cannot take decisions to terminate appointments of employees, let alone those serving in an acting capacity.
The terminations in this case appear to be based on partisanship.
How the July-to-September recruitments were done
Whispers Media Network found out that for those personnel employed between July and September, their recruitment followed laid-down procedures and processes for employing workers.
Interviews were conducted and supervised by the Public Services Commission.
The termination of such appointments is not only unjust, but also illegal.
Report to partner EXIM Banks
Whispers Media Network is drawing the attention of the United States and Indian EXIM Banks to the illegality being perpetrated by the acting chief executive of Ghana EXIM Bank, Sylvester Mensah.
He has turned Ghana EXIM Bank into a political office and thrown good corporate governance to the dogs.
G-NEXID to suspend EXIM Bank boss?
Whispers Media Network deems it highly necessary to call on the Global Network of Export-Import Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID) not only to recognise Sylvester Mensah as the chief executive officer of Ghana EXIM Bank, but also to suspend him.
We also call on the Berne Union (BU), Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC), the British High Commission, the US Embassy and the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC) to blacklist (as a matter of urgency) Ghana EXIM Bank and its chief executive until the right thing is done.
The Ghanaian government must be impressed upon not only to remove Sylvester Mensah as the acting CEO but also to ensure that the terminations of appointment he ordered are reversed.
A trip into time: man at the centre of the NHIA furore
Sylvester Mensah, it will be recalled, is the former chief executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) who was arrested by the then Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) following his dismissal in the latter part of 2015.
Mensah gave himself up to BNI on New Year’s Day 2016 (1 January 2016) after seven armed BNI operatives stormed his residence in Tse Addo, near the Trade Fair Site, in Accra at dawn.
The investigations began six months earlier, at the instance of President John Dramani Mahama, then serving his first elected term of office. According to the BNI, many of the medical facilities had been falsifying documents and submitting bloated claims to the NHIA. In some cases, managers of medical facilities colluded with NHIA officials to steal from the Authority.
By the time of his departure at the helm of the NHIA, successive reports described the Authority as being on the verge of financial collapse.
Sylvester Mensah was investigated by the NHIA and it decided to let him go: clearly he was incompetent. Yet this is the same man put in charge of Ghana EXIM Bank.
Should be on pension, sacking able youth
Sylvester Mensah’s 61 years make him a pensioner. One would not have expected that he would be sacking able youth from work.
It is quite ironic. These sackings are happening because it is Mensah’s belief that all those employed between July and September last year are members of the New Patriotic Party, which lost the 2024 general election in December to the National Democratic Congress, led by John Mahama.
Promotion of NDC members
Sylvester Mensah has also engaged in another illegality: targeted promotion of workers specifically recruited under the Mills/Mahama governments.
He deems it fit to promote workers affiliated to his political party, the NDC, while terminating the appointments of those perceived to be pro-NPP.
There cannot be a worse form of injustice and unfairness than what these innocent young people are being subjected to.
Conclusion
Sylvester Mensah is neither competent nor qualified to lead Ghana EXIM Bank as its chief executive officer.
He does not have the requisite knowledge, experience and qualifications to lead the bank. To date, he has also exhibited a high degree of incompetence in an acting capacity.
Whispers Media Network is calling on President Mahama to change Sylvester Mensah’s permanent appointment to a series of yearly contracts, given that he is above the age of 60, if he still wants to keep him as the chief executive of Ghana EXIM Bank.
Whispers Media Network
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