The forum under the theme; “leveraging good institutional governance for national development,” was for stakeholders to acquire knowledge, and share ideas on how to improve on institutional governance practices for national development.

Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, Chief Executive Officer MiDA, said Ghana’s competitiveness in the world market and successes would tell how well it had managed the resources and opportunities available within its institutions.

He said democracy had come to stay and governance institutions have grown and were becoming more and more independent and effective. Mr Eson-Benjamin said good governance goes beyond the absence of corruption, but keeping an environment clean and well, managing revenues judiciously, investing appropriately, excellence in management, motivation of staff at all levels and regulators, among others were all catalysts for good governance.

“State owned enterprises and the assemblies are the institutions on whose laps sit the effective implementation of the development adding that the forum is being held at the appropriate time.“To say that institutional success promotes national development is to state the obvious, by delivering effectively on their mandates, the various institutions of state constitutes a critical aspects and ensures the achievement of the national development agenda,” he said.

Mr Eson-Benjamin said good governance connotes the committed adherence to a set of arrangements or rules of engagements that ensures the development and sustainability of any social setting.

There is therefore the need for regular rules to allow for updates and development, sustained levels of success and corporate institutional development.“Efforts must be benchmarked against competitiveness of similar nature against other public and private institutions or against other countries around us,” Mr Eson-Benjamin said.

He said good governance is not the preserve of the board of directors, governors, CEO’s, shareholders, and management, but to achieve success in and across institutions, governments, boards and management must continually aim to attain success by initiating arrangements to reform organizations and leaders in order to build capacity to meet best practices and standards.

“Governments must create a high level of awareness for upright leadership within organizations, institutional leadership must be showcased, monitoring compliance on specific rules and guidelines that promotes efficiency and moral uprightness. Highlight self-respect, transparency and accountability to minimize corruption at all levels,” he said.

Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Executive Chairman of the State Enterprises Commission, said as Ghana embarks on consolidating the principles of good governance there is the need to ensure full responsibility and accountability by all stakeholders.

He said the functions of the boards and head of institutions are key ingredients for the organizational success.“A leader who lives the value of integrity, time consciousness and other good leadership skills affects his or her followers positively to achieve results.

“While poor corporate governance practices and non-compliance to regulations and governance codes, leads to waste of resources, inefficiencies and fraud which leads to the collapse of organizations,” he said.Mr Asamoah Boateng said good corporate governance was not an end in itself but it ensures a more efficient delivery of goods and services and greater quality of life for peaceful coexistence.

He said compliance with the corporate governance laws and guidelines by boards and CEOs would improve governance practices in institutions.“From 2019, as part of assessment and insurance of various boards of state owned enterprises the State Enterprises Commission would review the self-assessment conducted by the boards, advising institutions to file their evaluation reports and encouraged other regulatory bodies to do same,” he said.

Mrs Juliet Aboagye Wiafe, IIA President, Ghana, said the theme for the forum, was carefully chosen because good corporate governance is necessary for national development.She said corporate governance is necessary because it provides strong inputs for organizations and the sustainability of businesses, promotes efficient use of resources, promotes accountability, enhances organizational image and prevents corporate scandals, frauds and failures.

She said internal auditors are concerned about good governance because they have a vital role to play in governance adding that internal audit is an independent, objective, assurance and consulting activities designed to add value and improve an organizations operations.

“Internal audit also helps organizations to accomplish their objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes,” Mrs Wiafe said.

Internal auditors are also expected to assess and report on the effectiveness of governance processes in institutions and ensure the successes of institutions, and can only be successful with the support of the boards, CEO’s, MCE’s and DCE’s.