ECOWAS Bank head removed - Govt. Withdraws Support

THE ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government has terminated the appointment of Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey as the President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).

The termination of his appointment follows the withdrawal of Ghana Government’s support for him.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, who disclosed this in an interview in Accra yesterday, said the government withdrawal of support for Dr Yankey follows its interest in the position of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS

He said the government has communicated to member states of the sub-regional organisation declaring its unflinching support for the candidature of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, for the position of ECOWAS Executive Secretary and could, therefore, not support Dr Yankey.

He said judging from responses received, Dr Chambas would win the position, saying “more than 70 per cent of ECOWAS countries are in support of Ghana’s candidature for the top ECOWAS post and added that the country cannot occupy the presidency of EBID in addition.

Besides, Mr Owusu-Agyemang said, the government is interested in supporting candidature of people with impeccable credentials to represent the country on international institutions.

He said owing to some allegations of fraud and the on-going trial of some top public officials, including Dr Yankey in connection with the Quality Grain scandal, he advised him early this year not to contest the position as President of the bank early this year.

He said Dr Yankey who was among two other nominees proposed by the previous government, did not heed the advice and went ahead to contest the position.

Consequently, the minister said, the government wrote to the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government which terminated the appointment of Dr Yankey.

The letter of dismissal from the ECOWAS secretariat was dated April 23, 2001 and signed by Mande Sidibe for the Chairman.

Asked whether the government would nominate a new candidate for the EBID presidency, Mr Owusu-Agyemang answered in the negative saying “we are cannot contest since we are vying for the Executive Secretary position.”