ECO Managers Face Probe From Guinea

WAMI HITS BACK

… Says publications are malicious & baseless

The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) has hit back at last, describing as baseless and malicious recent publications accusing them of corruption and maladministration.

In a three-paged statement forwarded to the Capitaline and Ghana Daily last Friday, the Institute tasked to work for the realization of the West African currency ECO, said all contracts are awarded through due process and that management has involved all stakeholders in all decisions for the day to day running of the entity.

The press release comes on the heels of a communication from the Central Bank Governor of Guinea, Dr Louncieng Nabe, saying that based on recent media reports, a committee would from 24th to 25th October, 2011 probe affairs at WAMI .

Dr Nabe, the Guinea Governor currently the chairperson of the committee of governors overseeing WAMI holds that the serious allegations in the reports have “damaged the reputation of WAMI and prejudiced the realization of our common goal.”

But WAMI insists the publications are without merit. The full text of the statement is reproduced below;

WEST AFRICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE

PRESS STATEMENT

MALICIOUS PUBLICATIONS AGAINST WAMI

7th October, 2011

RE: CORRUPT DEAL AT WAMI

RE: DIRECTORS FIGHT OVER MILLIONS AT WAMI

RE: HORROR AT WAMI

RE: ROTS AT WAMI

The West African Monetary institute (WAMI) wishes to correct the above –captioned baseless misrepresentations that have appeared in a section of the media in its host country and on an internet site. The same writer has been using two local newspapers and an internet website to spread malicious messages against WAMI and its management.

1. These articles state that contracts were awarded without due process. This is incorrect. All contracts were awarded in accordance with procurement processes of WAMI and directives of the country, bilateral institution of multilateral institution providing the funding. It is worthy of note that the institute is currently managing more than ten times the amount stated in the article following national and international competitive bidding procedures respectively. The institute has dealt with only respectable individuals and firms with professionally acknowledged competence and expertise in their respective fields.

2. One article raised an issue in respect of a book,”Monetary and financial integration in Africa.” Contrary to the article that there was no meeting to discuss the publication of the book, the decision to publish the book in its present form was taken at the 45th meeting of the Management Board of WAMI on Wednesday, 28th October, 2009, in which directors of the institute were present. WAMI is pleased and proud that this book has been initiated and authored by its management and staff under the guidance of the Director General, Dr. Temitope Oshiloya.

Again, contrary to the article that the directors were not acknowledged, 23 professional staff including all directors of WAMI co-authored chapters in the edited book. As acknowledged in the preface to the book, “The book would not have been possible without contributions of several people. It is a product of collaborative efforts among the staff of the West African Monetary institute, which has been at the centre of making the technical preparations for monetary union and financial integration in the West African Monetary Zone.”

The book examines the process, progress, prospects and challenges of forming a monetary union and the ongoing financial integration in the West African Monetary Zone. Indeed, the book was prescient as the lessons of the EURO Zone experience clearly indicate that a monetary union requires certain fundamentals and pre-requisites for its sustained success. The book has been widely acclaimed as an authoritative piece on the establishment of a durable monetary union in developing countries and sub-regions in Africa. The book has been published by rout ledge, an international reputable company, and in the publishing agreement, all royalty from the sale of the book goes to WAMI. We wonder where the millions of proceeds from the book referred to the above-captioned newspaper article are coming from.

3. Another article refers to the termination of employment of certain former members of staff. In the case of one of the staff, the decision not to renew his contract was taken solely on the basis of his record of indiscipline: over a four-year period, the staff received eight (8) written warnings and several verbal warning from four different directors under three different Directors-General. In the case of a former Director, the decision not to renew her contract was taken by the committee of Governors before a new Director General took office. In respect of another Director mentioned in the article, he resigned to return to a better-paying position in his home country. One of the articles states that a Director received two cars for free from WAMI. This is incorrect. There is a policy in place approved by the Governing council for the allocation and disposal of cars.

4. One other article suggests the management of WAMI has been intimidating staff. This is for from the truth. Rather the management of WAMI has sought to institute deforms and implement rules and regulations to curb indiscipline and laxity, and to promote values normally attribute d to an international organization. Examples of the indiscipline and irresponsible behavior which management has had to deal with and seeks to stop include the following:

• Staff with a record of incompetence and unsatisfactory performance who are about to leave on contract expiration, but who are trying to remain at the institute by any means, and have now embarked on a malicious attack against WAMI through dissemination of false information;

• Staff who travelled abroad for six months on frivolous sick leave. Once informed by the institute that it intended to stop payment of salary in accordance with policy, the staff resumed work within a week:

• Staff who was issue with a warning for abandoning his official mission to travel to his home country for 5 days without permission; and

• Staff who resigned from the institute and sough claim three years instead of two years depreciation on the car allocated to him, which he was entitled to purchase on disengagement from the institute.

Numerous similar cases of indiscipline exist, and WAMI’s current management is seeking to redress this.

It is no wonder that one of the former central bank governors of a WAMZ country wrote on August14, 2008 to his colleagues and stated inter alia:

“I would agree with a formal decision by Governors that the incoming heads of the institutions

Undertake a cleaning exercise by not renewing the existing contracts of officials upon expiration, but rather take immediate steps to recruit replacement staff.”

To all intent and purposes, these newspaper articles have been intended to cause mischief through misrepresentations and misinformation! The general public and indeed all stake holders should take cognizance of and be properly guided by the above facts.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the achievements of WAMI over the past three years.

• The institute has increased its resources four-fold, while reducing the contributions of its member states.

• WAMI has facilitated the enlargement of the membership of the West African Monetary Zone with the admission of the Republic of Liberia by Authority of Heads of State in February 2009.

• WAMI has been developing the payment systems in the four member states of the Zone: the Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

• WAMI has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the college of supervisors of the West African Monetary Zone (CSWAMZ) to promote financial system stability by enhancing cooperation, information sharing and coordination amongst bank supervisors in the zone.

• Recognizing the need to support member countries in building capacity to implement the international financial Reporting standards (IFRS), WAMI in collaboration with Euro-money organize d a high level training on IFRS.

• WAMI has assisted The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to formulate their national trade policies and action programs.

Editors’ Note:

Ghana daily and Capitaline are publishing this rejoinder verbatim based on the constitutional right of WAMI to be heard, though they have previously refused to offer comments when contacted prior to the publication of the series of news articles. The issues raised in the above release will be subjected to critical scrutiny. Stay tuned.