Proceedings at the Public Account Committee of Parliamentary was stalled temporary on Monday when the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah was asked when he attained age of 60.
The question was from the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George.
Graphic Online’s Parliamentary reporter, Daniel Kenu reports that Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah went silent after the question.
For a long while, he was mute and all the microphones also went off as members of the committee waited for an indication when proceedings could continue.
The deputy minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, under whose ambit the GRA was appearing before the committee to answer questions on some infractions, jumped to his defence but the chairman of the committee, James Klutse Avedzi, insisted that the Commissioner General should answer the question.
The chairman of committee said Rev. Dr Owusu-Amoah was a public servant and therefore there was nothing wrong with the question.
But the deputy finance minister, said the question was personal and should not be allowed to fly.
While the back and forth was ongoing, the deputy finance minister moved towards the chair.
Sitting has been suspended for 45 minutes to address the issue backstage.
Questions on retirement
There has been some public discussions about Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah’s age and a call by some people for him to retire with the argument that he is over 60 years old, the mandatory retirement age for public officers.
There is also another argument about the President’s prerogative to offer contract to certain appointees who are more than the mandatory retirement age of 60 years in the public service but whose services are still needed by the state.
Who is Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah
Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah is the Commissioner – General of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Before assuming the top most job at the GRA, he had a vast experience in leadership, management, and banking operations.
He started his career in the public service with the Ghana Statistical Service as an Assistant Statistician and later worked in various capacities in banking and management.
Experience
Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah is a seasoned international banker with almost 30 years’ experience in Research, Corporate banking, SME/Retail Banking, Strategic Leadership and Strategic Planning and has worked in different countries in Africa and undertaken short term assignments in several countries.
Rev. Dr. Owusu-Amoah started his career as an Assistant Statistician with the Ghana Statistical Service engaged in Economic, Social and Statistical Research before joining Standard Chartered Bank, as a Statistician and Research Officer in 1993.
For his exceptional performance in the Bank, he gained rapid promotions over a period of 9 years into various Senior positions.
These include: Financial Business Support Manager with responsibility for managing the budgeting and planning function of the Bank; Head of Credit Services for Standard Chartered Bank West Africa and Head of Operations and Technology for Standard Chartered Bank Ghana where he became a member of the Executive Committee of the Bank.
He was appointed Group Head of Operations for Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) based in Togo where he supervised the operations functions over all the countries of the Ecobank Group.
He was very instrumental in setting up from scratch the Ecobank Operations and Technology hub in Ghana known as eProcess International.
He joined uniBank Ghana Ltd in 2007 where he became the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
He left uniBank in 2011 and joined Bank of Africa Group as Managing Director and CEO of Bank of Africa, Tanzania for seven years until he was appointed as Group Executive for Special Projects, including Mergers and Acquisitions, strategic collaborations and alliances for the Bank of Africa Group and other international banks.
Rev. Dr.Owusu-Amoah, has been a major speaker at conferences and seminars for several International Organizations and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Belgium Investment Organization (BIO).
Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai has served on several boards and has contributed significantly to development of the Finance Industry.
He was the Chairman of the Board of the Tanzania Mortgage Re-Finance Company, Chairman of the Board of Umoja Switch Tanzania Limited, Member of the Governing Council of the Tanzania Bankers Association and Chairman of the Credit Sub Committee of the Governing Council of the Tanzania Bankers Association. He also served as Chairman of the Board of uniSecurities Ghana Limited, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Akuapem Rural Bank Limited.
He is currently a member of the Board of the National Identification Authority, A member of the Board of GCNet Ghana Limited, and a member of the Board of the Minerals Income Investment Fund.
