Goro boys interfering in our practice of good corporate governance— Registrar General

The Registrar General, Mrs Jemima Oware, has blamed the lack of compliance to good corporate governance practices on the activities of third parties, otherwise known as “goro boys” in various organisations.

Citing her institution as a clear example, Mrs Oware said systems had been put in place to ensure flexibility in registering businesses manually and consequently online.

 However, her frustration stemmed from the reluctance of citizens to use the right channels in acquiring business registration which even costs cheaper.

 Rather, the average Ghanaian preferred to get registered through these “goro boys” at expensive costs.

Mrs Oware said: “I keep saying that we have made the system flexible and transparent (manual, electronic and even online).

 Despite all the notices and cautions to people to register their businesses with us, they still come to the yard and hand over huge sums of money to the goro boys.”

She made this known at a high-level dialogue on good corporate governance on November 28 in Accra.

The dialogue, which was in two folds, bordered on corporate government as a prerequisite of private sector-led economic development - the role of policy makers and the state in ensuring integrity in the private sector and responsible leadership.

Board appointees

The President of the Institute of Directors, Mr Rockson Dogbegah, for his part, suggested that prospective appointees to the boards of various organisations were made to undergo training and acquire certification before assuming such positions.

“Institute of Directors-Ghana is advocating a legislation that ensures that before anyone is appointed, you must receive some training and be certified as such,” Mr Dogbegah noted.

This, he said, would check unprofessionalism and guard against corruption.    

Compliance  

Mr Dogbegah also noted that the success of any entity was hinged on strategic steps put in place to ensure compliance to rules binding on its members, alongside supervision, monitoring and evaluation.

“So if we want to succeed as a country, as a government, public sector players, private sector players, the role of compliance becomes very important, anchored on effective monitoring and evaluation systems,” Mr Dogbegah said.

Sustainable policies

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, emphasised the need for sustainability and continuity in policies relating to good corporate governance in the face of frequent change of government.

He further urged policy makers to clear traces of politics in exercising professionalism so as to ensure accountability and less compromise on integrity.

Companies Act 1963 under review

Mrs Jemima also revealed that the current companies act, 1963 was being reviewed in Parliament currently. According to her, the act, expected to be ready by the end of 2018, would be in tandem with current developments and ensure flexibility.

 “The Companies act is currently before Parliament.

We have done the clause-to-clause reading. We are trusting that it will be passed into law by the end of this year.”

She added that one of the provisions of the reviewed Companies act would give financial autonomy to the Office of the Registrar-General to operate independently.