Ghana’s Registrar General’s Department cautions company owners to desist from appointing unqualified company secretaries
by Magdalene Teiko LarnyohThe Registrar General's Department has cautioned owners of companies and managers to stop appointing unqualified relatives and family members as secretaries for their companies.
The Assistant Registrar of the Department, Linda Quao said the department would not allow the appointment of such unqualified people. She said the unqualified people who are appointed to such positions could harm the company and the economy at large.
This directive was contained in the Department's new Company Act '992'. Ms Quao said that any company that flouts the law would be sanctioned.
Speaking at a workshop organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) in Accra, Ms Quao said "now it is no more your wife, your house help, your driver, and anyone who is not qualified. The duty of a company's secretary is very serious, so from now onwards, you must note that you need to be qualified to be able to do that."
She explained that per the act a person appointed as a secretary for a company should have acquired a professional qualification or tertiary level of education. This person must have offered 'Company Law Practice' and 'Administration' to enable him or her to conform to the functions of a company secretary.
The Act 992, which replaced the 1963's Act '179', was finalised on May 2, 2019, but received Presidential assent on August 2, 2019.
Ms Quao noted that the Act also made provisions that disqualified people from becoming Directors of a company.
It says "a person shall not be appointed as a director unless that person before the appointment makes a statutory declaration to the company that five years preceding the application for incorporation, was not charged with or convicted of criminal offence involving fraud or dishonesty."
She added that the director is also expected to work in the interest of the company, to protect its assets and promote the purposes for which the business was established in a manner that is faithful, diligent and ordinarily skillful or be held responsible for his or her actions or inactions.