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06.10.2015 General News

If Nkrumah were alive, I would be him - Alhassan Andani

By Myjoyonline
If Nkrumah were alive, I would be him - Alhassan Andani
06.10.2015 LISTEN

The Managing Director of one of Ghana’s leading banks, Stanbic Bank, Mr. Alhassan Andani says he does not believe in cocooning oneself to any particular political party.

“I’m not one of those Ghanaians who think everybody must belong to one political party or the other,” he told Joy FM’s Super Moring Show host Kojo Yankson.

The programme was had at the upper terrace of the plush Stanbic Heights at Airport.

Mr. Andani would not say which political party he supports in Ghana except to say he believes in private enterprises and the creation of opportunities for sharing of wealth.

He revealed he is a great admirer of Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

“If Nkrumah were alive, I would be with him,” he said.

SADA controversy
Mr. Andani who was adjudged the Marketing Man of the Year at the CIMG awards recently, for the first time in years opened up about his role in the now moribund Savana Accelerated Development Authority.

He was the Board Chairman of SADA when the organization undertook a series of failed projects condemned as a conduit to mismanage state resources.

SADA was created by government to bridge the development gap between the northern and southern parts of the country but the organisation failed miserably.

Two of SADA's signature projects - tree planting and Guinea Fowl rearing - flopped, with the about 50 million cedis invested in the projects said to have gone down the drain.

Mr. Andani conceded that even though the policy proposition for the two projects was well reasoned and well-thought out, the implementation was not done as was envisaged.

He said when the SADA idea was mooted, "I liked the story, I liked the [opportunity] to play a role to transform the north; to transform what I thought was a latent economic opportunity for Ghana; that was why I really went into it."

Responding to accusations he was caught in a conflict of interest situation when it emerged that part of SADA's money was lodged in an account at Stanbic Bank, Mr. Andani, said every transaction between the two institutions "was done completely at arms length; the data is there for everyone to see."

The Stanbic Bank MD, reputed as an advocate for good corporate governance, insisted he played no role in SADA's decision to operate an account with Stanbic bank or any other bank for that matter.

In fact, he said, he had pushed strongly at board level, for a SADA Development Bank "because I though the north or that SADA zone required its own development bank."

"So really, placing money with local banks including Stanbic bank was only an interim measure done at arms length," he maintained.

Mr. Andani said the SADA Board under his tutelage established the legal framework that would enhance transparency and accountability and the running of the organisation.

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