We will make resources available to combat corruption – Bawumia

Despite the country’s tight fiscal circumstances, the Akufo-Addo administration is committed to making resources available for the beneficial ownership regime, Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said.

Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria at the Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016 made commitments on fighting corruption in their respective jurisdictions which included the full implementation of beneficial ownership, contract transparency, transparency in commodity markets and transparency in the procurement process.

Speaking at a regional conference in Accra organised by Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International on Thursday on the theme, ‘Supporting New Beneficial Ownership Transparency Champions’, Dr. Bawumia said government will provide the needed resources for the implementation and will not risk the security of persons in politics.

“Ghana’s government recognises the huge financial implications of this commitment to our already constrained fiscal space, however, we are resolved to make the needed resources available for Ghana to put in place an effective and efficient beneficial ownership regime. It must be recognised that in this process where the identities and detailed information of politically-exposed persons and their families will be made publicly accessible, the issue of security will be very key. As much as the information on politically-exposed persons is very important and critical, we must also be mindful that we don’t compromise the security of these people to the extent that they could become easy targets for criminal activities,” Dr. Bawumia added.

The two-day workshop is aimed at helping participants increase their understanding of why beneficial ownership information is useful for tackling corruption, learn methods, tools and approaches that can help them make progress towards enhanced beneficial ownership transparency and the fight against corruption, among others.

The concept of beneficial ownership refers to the “ultimate” control of a legal entity, independently of the formal ownership structure. Such control can only be held by a natural person (or a group of natural persons), even when his or her identity is hidden inside complicated ownership schemes.