AfDB President Faces Another Challenge to his Re-election

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has rejected plans by the African Development Bank’s board to end an investigation into its president, Akinwumi Adesina, and called for an independent probe into allegations against him. In a letter dated May 22 and addressed to Niale Kaba, chairwoman of the bank’s board of governors, Mnuchin said the Treasury disagrees with findings by the bank’s ethics committee that “totally exonerated” Adesina. Kaba confirmed receipt of the document and declined further comment. The intervention by the Treasury, the AfDB’s biggest non-African shareholder, comes two weeks after the ethics committee found no evidence to support allegations of favoritism by Adesina. The 60-year-old bank chief, who has repeatedly refuted the allegations, is the only candidate up for election as president at an annual general meeting scheduled for August. Adesina was accused by a group of unidentified whistleblowers of handing contracts to acquaintances and appointing relatives to strategic positions at the Abidjan-based lender.

SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS