Shareholders of Nandom rural bank sack board chairman

Nandom (U/W), Nov. 26, GNA - Mr Jacob Yirerong, chairman of board of directors of the Nandom rural Bank, was on Saturday forced to resign, following a drastic drop in the bank's profit margin in the 2006 operational year.

Prior to 2006, the Bank's profit levels had always increased since its establishment in 1981.

In his report to the 25th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held at Nandom, Mr Yirerong said the Bank made a net profit of 93.7 million cedis in the 2006 operational year as against 468.7 million cedis in 2005.

He blamed the sharp drop on the "difficult macro-economic environment" under which the Bank operated during the period, saying the situation affected all rural and community banks in the country. However, the shareholders refused to accept his explanation and demanded that he stepped down or else they would not continue with the meeting.

The agitation for the chairman's resignation was sparked by one of the shareholders, Mr Kingsley Kizito Nane, who read a statement, expressing loss of confidence in Mr Yirerong's leadership of the Board. He accused Mr Yirerong of refusing to investigate reports of embezzlement of 444 mil lion cedis at the Bank, an allegation refuted by external auditors.

Initially, Mr Yirerong refused to yield to the demand of the shareholders and this led to a hold-up in proceedings at the meeting. He later gave up and announced his resignation.

Following Mr Yirerong's resignation, Mr Claver Dadzie, Wa branch manager of the ARB Apex Bank, took charge of proceedings and supervised the election of four new board members, in addition to three others, who would later choose a chairman from among them. Many shareholders told the Ghana News Agency there was need to replace Mr Yirerong in order to inject fresh ideas into the Bank's administration. 26 Nov. 07