{"id":109387,"date":"2015-04-18T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T06:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=109387"},"modified":"2015-04-18T08:15:42","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T08:15:42","slug":"iea-hosts-debate-for-afdb-presidency-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=109387","title":{"rendered":"IEA hosts debate for AfDB Presidency candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana, in collaboration with the Centre for Global Development (CDG), USA, hosted a debate among candidates vying for the prestigious position of President of the African Development Bank last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The event was held at the CGD Conference Centre in Washington DC and broadcasted live at the premises of The IEA.<\/p>\n

As the election of a new president scheduled for May 28 2015 nears, the purpose of the debate was to engage the candidates in a public discussion on their vision for the Bank.<\/p>\n

The debate creeated a platform for shareholders, policymakers, media, and the public to hear directly from the candidates on various issues related to the Bank\u2019s role in African development.<\/p>\n

The event was intended to highlight each candidate\u2019s strengths, promote transparency and competition in the election, and showcase the AfDB\u2019s open selection process.<\/p>\n

The IEA brought together representatives from a broad section of the society including Government, Parliament, Political Parties, the Diplomatic Corps, Academia, Think Tanks and the Media to witness the Debate via live broadcast.<\/p>\n

The debate panel consisted of the following candidates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nCountry<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nName<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nCurrent position<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/strong><\/td>\nNigeria<\/td>\nMr. Akinwumi Adesina<\/td>\nMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/strong><\/td>\nChad<\/td>\nMr. Kordje Bedoumra<\/td>\nMinister of Finance and Budget<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/strong><\/td>\nMali<\/td>\nMr. Birma Boubacar Sidibe<\/td>\nVP Operations, IsDB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/strong><\/td>\nCape Verde<\/td>\nMs. Cristina Duarte<\/td>\nMinister of Finance and Planning<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/strong><\/td>\nSierra Leone<\/td>\nMr. Samura Kamara<\/td>\nMinister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/strong><\/td>\nTunisia<\/td>\nMr. Jalloul Ayed<\/td>\nformer Minister of Finance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/strong><\/td>\nZimbabwe<\/td>\nMr. Thomas Zondo Sakala<\/td>\nformer VP Country and Regional Programs, AfDB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Candidates first presented their vision statements to the audience after which they were asked a range of questions from representatives of member countries on issue areas such as:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Challenges in the region<\/li>\n
  • Fragile and Post-Conflict States<\/li>\n
  • Natural Resource Management<\/li>\n
  • Bank Governance and States\u2019 Accountability<\/li>\n
  • Bank\u2019s relationship with china<\/li>\n
  • Encouraging the Private sector<\/li>\n
  • Financial Inclusion and Inequality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Representing Ghana, the Executive Director of the Institute, Mrs. Jean Mensa, posed the first question to the candidates on Africa\u2019s development challenges. Mrs. Mensa asked what candidates saw as the major development challenges facing the region, and how they proposed to resolve these challenges. Hon. Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome-Kwabenya and Mr. Bernard Avle, CitiFM\u2019s Director of News, were also selected by the IEA to pose questions to the candidates. Hon. Safo asked what specific polices and monitoring measures the candidates would put in place to ensure that funding given to African governments for the procurement of goods and services for the development of their countries are utilized in an efficient, competitive and accountable manner to ensure good value for money. Mr. Avle questioned the candidates on what specific plans they had to improve financial inclusion for groups like SME\u2019s, women, the rural poor and those in rural agriculture.<\/p>\n

    The African Development Bank<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    With almost $8 billion worth of operations in 2013 and a growing share of multilateral lending to African countries, the African Development Bank is an institution of great importance to African governments and, therefore, to the lives of people across African nations.<\/p>\n

    The current President, Dr. Donald Kaberuka, a national of Rwanda, was elected in July 2005, and commenced his first term on 1 September 2005. Following his re-election in May 2010, he commenced his last 5-year term on 1 September 2010. Dr. Kaberuka is reaching the end of his term and is widely regarded as having led the bank to greater prominence and standing. His successor will be chosen by the bank\u2019s governors, who represent its 80 members: 54 African states and 26 other countries with a stake in the bank.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Presidential Candidates<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The Steering Committee of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank met on 11 February, 2015 at the Bank\u2019s headquarters in Abidjan and agreed to the following list of candidates for the\u00a0election of the next President of the African Development Bank:<\/p>\n

      Akinwumi A. Adesina – Nigeria, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Previous position\/role<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Vice-President (Policy and Partnerships), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)<\/p>\n

      Sufian Ahmed – Ethiopia, Minister of Finance and Economic Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Previous position\/role<\/h4>\n

      Commissioner, Ethiopian Customs Authority<\/p>\n

      Jaloul Ayed – Tunisia, President, MED Confederation; former Minister of Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Previous position\/role:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Minister of Finance, Tunisian Republic<\/li>\n
      • Board Member, General Manager, BMCE Bank, Morocco<\/li>\n
      • Vice-President, Citibank<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Kordj\u00e9 Bedoumra – Chad, Minister of Finance and Budget<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Previous position\/role<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Republic of Chad<\/li>\n
        • Minister of Planning, Economy and International Cooperation, Republic of Chad<\/li>\n
        • Secretary General, then Vice-President in charge of Corporate Services; African Development Bank<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Cristina Duarte – Cape Verde, Minister of Finance and Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Previous position\/role<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          • Director, Private sector development and competitiveness program, World Bank Project, Cabo Verde<\/li>\n
          • Vice-President and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking Citibank, N.A., Angola<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Samura M. W. Kamara – Sierra Leone, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Previous position\/role<\/h4>\n

            Minister of Finance and Economic Development<\/p>\n

            Thomas Z. Sakala – Zimbabwe, former VP Country and Regional Programs, AfDB<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Previous position\/role<\/h4>\n

            Vice-President, Country and Regional Programmes, AfDB<\/p>\n

            Birma Boubacar Sidib\u00e9 – Mali, VP Operations, IsDB<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Previous position\/role:<\/h4>\n

            Managing Director, Shelter Afrique, Nairobi, Kenya<\/p>\n

            \u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Source: IEA<\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana, in collaboration with the Centre for Global Development (CDG), USA, hosted a debate among candidates vying for the prestigious position of President of the African Development Bank last Thursday. The event was held at the CGD Conference Centre in Washington DC and broadcasted live at the premises of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":93927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-109387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-st-augustines-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}