Ethical strength is key in corporate governance – Prof. Aheto
Professor John Aheto, Council Member, Institute of Directors (IoD) – Ghana has described, “Ethical strength” as a key component in good corporate governance and must be prioritised ahead of competence.
He said though competence was an important feature in governance, “ethical strength” was the life wire of the system promoting transparency and accountability.
Prof. Aheto said this when he opened a week’s training workshop for journalists in Volta and Oti regions on good corporate governance organised by IoD-Ghana under the auspices of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Volta/Oti, with support from the Ho Technical University.
He said the incompetence of a leader could be managed with the competence of his team members but ethical bankruptcy was a recipe for disaster in governance and underscored the need for leaders to “know themselves and know how to manage themselves.”
Prof. Aheto attributed the collapse of banks and other institutions in the country to poor corporate governance, with leaders of such institutions lacking “emotional intelligence”.
He said the country had lost value for ethics with hardly any consideration for impact of decisions of leaders on the society and environment and charged journalists to help address the anomaly.
Prof. Aheto asked Journalists to appreciate “professional skepticism, think creatively and critically,” to promote good corporate governance in the country.
He said that was important because the country’s rapid socioeconomic development and stability was dependent on good corporate governance.
The five-day’s training will take participants through principles of Corporate Governance; Structure and Committees of Boards, and Board competences matrix,
Other topics would be; Board Dynamics, Boards and Corporate Leadership, Risk Management, Ethics, Integrated Reporting, Corporate Fraud and Action Planning among others.
Prof. Harry Tagbor, Volta/Oti Regional Chairman, IoD-Ghana said the training was to position journalists to change the narratives on good corporate governance.
Source: GNA