Our Manifesto

The Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa strongly supports the following propositions:

That effective corporate governance is the key to building stable and healthy institutions in a nation. These institutions include listed and unlisted companies, central government departments and agencies, state-owned enterprises, regional and local government organisations, family businesses, charities and non-profit organisations.
That the essence of a board's, and a director's, role is to drive their enterprise forward whilst keeping it under prudent control. This 'director's dilemma' is irresolvable and needs, therefore, to be reviewed regularly and rigorously by the board to ensure the long-term health of the organisation to deliver each director's Fiduciary Duty.
That Corporate Governance compliance is necessary but not sufficient.
That Corporate Governance sufficiency comes from measurable Board Performance - the adding of value through its work.
That the long-tested values and behaviours of Corporate Governance - Accountability, Probity and Transparency - are key to the development of effective directoral attitudes and behaviours.
That the Board must ensure its supremacy in decision making for the total organisation because in it resides ultimate responsibility, accountability, liability and leadership.
A director is 'always on'. Directing does not occur only around the boardroom table.
That the legal concepts of the following must always be reinforced by our work: a director's Primary Loyalty which is to the organisation as a separate legal entity rather than to those who appointed him or her, the Independence of Thought of each director, the need for Skill and Care in decision making, the collective responsibility of the board, the Chairman as 'the boss of the board' and the Chief Executive as 'the boss of the day-to-day operations'.
The Board must ensure its connectedness to the rest of its organisation and must also ensure the necessary fast learning systems which test the effectiveness of its Policies and Strategies.
The Board must develop effective Selection, Induction, Evaluation, Development and Renewal processes to keep itself healthy and diverse.
At the Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa it is our role to test, if necessary to destruction, through research, education, publication and praxis, these beliefs. Our main focus is on developing board effectiveness through reinforcing director and board values, behaviours and their abilities to learn continuously from their actions.