Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) has presented a special commissioned bronze art piece to honour Mr D.K Osei, an astute Ghanaian diplomat.
Mr Osei, a customer of the Bank, graduated from the University in 1977, where he was elected as the Students Representative Council President and was an athlete of great renown.
A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the Bank celebrated Mr D.K. Osei during his presentation of the 32nd edition of the annual University of Ghana Alumni Lecture.
The lecture was on the theme “Liberal Democracy: The New Utopias and the Age of Disorder.”
Nana Dwemoh Benneh, CEO of the Bank, presenting the award, said, “2022 is the Jubilee Year for our Bank and focus of the Jubilee is celebrating our customers, and we have spent the year acknowledging and celebrating with our customers.”
He said this was another episode in this regard, and they were happy to support and honour Mr Osei.
At the well-attended lecture, Mr Osei focused his presentation on the advantages and disadvantages of liberal democracy.
He said,” there is universal acceptance that the political governance system in which a country conducts its affairs, whether it is autocracy, monarchy, theocracy, or liberal democracy hugely impacts the attitude of the citizenry and the respect of its people.”
The Astute Diplomat said liberal democracy, though imperfect was strong and harboured powers of self-correction, and also provided mechanisms for challenging public grievances, and thus “we should collectively continue to invest in it.”
Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana commended Mr Osei for his contributions to the diplomatic circles.
She said, “As Mr Osei noted, there are different forms of governance around the world, and in our country, we have chosen liberal democracy.
It is evident that various vectors are disrupting liberal democracies, and if not addressed, might lead to other forms of governance becoming attractive, as we have seen in our neighbors like Burkina Faso.”
Mr Kofi Akyea, Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and Customer Experience at the Bank, said, “UMB has over the period sponsored the Alumni’s Annual Lecture as part of our support of Ghanaian thought-leadership.”
He said thei bank’s heritage since 1972 continued, and they prioritize investments in Ghanaian knowledge production, adding that “we believe in Ghana and continue to deploy a business model that puts the customer first in Ghana.”
The University of Ghana Alumni Lectures was instituted in 1974.
It has since been held yearly at the Great Hall of the University with other notable lectures delivered inter alia by Mr H. V. H. Sekyi in 1974, Prof. George Benneh in 1981, Dr. K. Y. Amoako in 2000, Her Ladyship Justice Sophia A. B. Akuffo in 2019, Dr. Ernest Addison in 2020, Mrs Akosua Frema Opare in 2021.
