Amoako bows out, Janneh takes over

by Remmy Nweke

Dr. Ken Y. Amoako of Ghana has finally bowed out of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after a 10-year stinct. Just as Mr. Abdoulie Janneh of Gambia has replaced him as the Executive Secretary of ECA.

ECA in a press statement made availab to ITRealms said that Mr. Amoako complete his term last Friday, September 30, 2005.

He has been succeeded by Mr Abdoulie Janneh who joined ECA after a 26-year career with the United Nations Development Programme, most recently as Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa in New York., since October 1.

Amoako has been leading the continental think-thank since 1995 in fashioning out developmental needs, describing his stay at ECA as most professionally rewarding.

“My work at ECA has been the most professionally rewarding of my career, and we have worked closely with African policy makers and leaders to sharpen economic and social policy and I’m proud of what we have achieved,” he said delightfully.

He also said that the commission’s work to build partnerships between African governments and international donors, have worked with others to move Africa’s development challenges to the top of the global agenda through such venues as the Commission for Africa, the G8, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Summit and others attracting focus on continent’s problems.

Speaking at the exit of Amoako, the Vice-President of the Canadian International Development Agency, Mr. Paul Hunt, said his vision, wisdom and dedication to the eradication of poverty have been inspirational, mostly on the commission’s contribution to the development of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) during his era.

Corroborating Hunt was the Deputy Director General of the International Organisation of Migration, Mme Ndioro Ndiaye, who said “If Africa is still a focus of the world's attention, it is in no small part, thanks to the quality of his contribution.”

Richard Carey of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee praised Amoako’s “immense personal contribution to the new ideas, processes and statements of principle and policy that are transforming the African scene.”

Dr. Amoako joined ECA in 1995 and during his tenure served on the UK’s Commission for Africa, the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa and the World Health Organisation’s Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. He first studied economics at the University of Legon, Ghana, before going on to do his MA and PhD in economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

He went on to work for two decades in various roles at the World Bank, including positions as resident representative in Zambia and as division chief and department director in Washington.