Accra, March 30, 2017 – The Deputy Minister designate for the Ministry of Finance, Hon. Abena Osei Asare (MP) has reiterated government’s commitment to fight corruption.  She noted that opaque company structures are being used to launder significant sums of money, which could be used to improve the lives of people which such ill-gotten gains were meant to serve.

Ghana has for the past five years intensified its efforts at developing safeguards against illicit financial flows, money laundering, corruption, financing of terrorism and organised crime, under the direction and support of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States, responsible for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures in West Africa.

Ghanaians are becoming increasingly concerned about what they describe as wasteful spending of petroleum revenues, Public Agenda has uncovered. In a brief statement at a Western Regional dissemination workshop on the 2014 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) reconciliation report, the Omanhene of Essikado traditional area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, observed that it is the expectation of many natural resource host communities to feel the socio-economic benefits of resource extraction, however the consolidation approach to national economic accounting makes it difficult for host communities to be able to appreciate the direct contribution of the resources being exploited in their geographical jurisdictions to their local economic development.

It is my profound pleasure to participate in the launch of the 2014 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Reconciliation Reports for Mining and Oil/Gas. This report comes on the heels of milestone  achievement  in  the  enactment  of  policies  designed  to maximize the benefits of natural resource to the state and citizenry. No doubt Ghana has been recognized as the star performer in initiating reforms based on the reconciliation reports at  the 2016 EITI global conference which was held in Lima, Peru.