September 27, 2007
Dear Chairman Cox,
In the spirit of capitalism and democracy, it would be entirely wrong to try to limit to only a select few of shareholders, mainly the rich with special interests, as the only ones in having a say with regards to director nominations.
The current status quo ensures that every owner irrespective of his percentage of shares in the company he/she chooses to invest in has a voice in the director nominations process of company he/she owns.
Limiting it to those who have owned shares in the company for more than a year and collective or individuals share of at least 5% would take away the rights of the shareholder as an owner in the company he or she owns. This current system ensures that there is more transparency and good corporate governance in the corporations. Moreover share holder confidence in the market would take a huge dip if the individual rights of shareholder rights to nominate a director is taken away from small shareholders.
At a time that investor confidence in the markets seem to be quitely shaky due to corporate scandals and huge executive CEO compensations shareholder nominations of directors, is a tool for promoting investor confidence in the markets.
Thanks, Emmanuel Assan