Business News of Sunday, 5 January 2020

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Intensify share-based outreach efforts, rural banks urged

Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku

Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, has called on the management of the Sissala Rural Bank to re-package their messages to convince the public on the need to buy more shares of the bank.

He said the rural bank has been asked to increase its shares but the information out there was different to the extent that some people were wrongly thinking that it has collapsed.

He made the call during the Annual General Meeting of the Sissala Union to round-up activities of the year and to brainstorm and seek measures to develop the area.

The meeting also provides the avenue for ideas sharing, creating a platform for fraternity as well as planning towards improving conditions in the coming years.

Mr Issshaku said a lot of people have not been properly educated on why they should buy shares saying "one area of concern to me is our rural bank and efforts being made to increase the sharebase. The people are not receiving the right information to motivate them to buy shares".

“The bank needs to explain to the public why the minimum capital was moved from 150,000 to 300,000 and later to 500,000 and the current minimum capital of one million Ghana Cedis", he said.

He said many people are suspecting that management and the board have collapsed the bank and are reaching out to public to purchase shares to keep the bank in business.

"There is the need for the communication on increasing the share capital base of the bank to the communities to be put into the right perspective through effective public education with the right information on why the bank is asking the public to buy more shares", he added.

Mr Razak Luriwie, the Accountant of the bank, deliberated on the need to to buy shares to help the bank with about GHC 500,000 to enable it meet the Bank of Ghana One million Ghana cedi requirement for all rural banks.

This move, he said, will strengthen the base of the bank to extend banking services to other communities.

Earlier Kuoro Osman Deiwia Nankpa III, the Paramount Chief of Pulima; and Kuoro Sukabe Ninia Diyaka, the Paramount Chief of Zini, said they would encourage efforts to rally their various traditional councils to mobilise resources for the Sissala Rural Bank to meet the Central Bank's minimum requirement.