Tove Degnbol, Danish Ambassador to Ghana
Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tove Degnbol, has identified corruption as a key development problem which needs to be tackled in order for the country to make gains.
“I think corruption is a major issue in Ghana,” Ms Degnbol, who was a guest on Class 91.3FM’s World Affairs hosted by Dr Etse Sikanku, said on Friday 20 April 2018.
She acknowledged that government has placed a focus on graft and finding ways to effectively tackle the canker however she feels “there is a long way to go” adding “anti-corruption efforts are important both in development cooperation and commercial cooperation”.
Ms Degnbol said they have been focusing on corruption because their development cooperation programme is financed by Danish taxpayers’ money which needs to be accounted for and ensured that it is used for the right purpose it was intended.
She emphasised that to attract international investors it is important that the country ensures that everyone “is playing according to the rules and that someone is not paying to win a tender for instance, somebody is not paying to get privileges in a business cooperation”.
In view of that she says the Danish Embassy has been interacting with Danish investors “about how to avoid [wrongdoing] and encouraging them not to pay anything which is not according to the rules and we are telling them that if they engage in such malpractices it will be a never ending story, people will come back for more, next time they will be asked to even pay more”.
She said the Danish Embassy is compiling the experiences of investors in the area of corruption and engaging with government especially “GRA (Ghana Revenue Authority), which is our good collaboration partner in our tax programme, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Ministry of Finance and other agencies where it is important to send this message”.
Ms Degnbol is worried about loopholes and “situations where malpractices can happen” and emphasised on the need to deal with such gaps to ensure fair play.
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