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Corruption Risk Assessment in prevention efforts

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in the latter part of 2020, conducted what it described as a Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) on the Agyapa Royalties deal.

This would have been the first time a CRA was operationalised by a law enforcement agency in Ghana.

The outcome of that exercise generated a lot of furore about whether it was indeed a Risk Assessment for corruption, (refer to Section 2 C of the OSP Act, 959 (2017) or an investigation of suspected corruption (Section 2A).

The two subsections are complementary, but are they interchangeable?

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Nigeria’s Protests and the Need for Bottom-Up Reform Across Africa

One of the rare times I made it through the international airport in Lagos with nary a request for a bribe, I was left feeling spooked. After all, during previous visits to Nigeria, I had had valuables seized right before my eyes under false pretenses; I had been detained in a cell awaiting ransom; and I had even once watched in alarmed disbelief as uniformed men with guns boarded my flight and extorted money from passengers, along with bottles of champagne from the crew, right there on the tarmac.

This time, as I exited the terminal, just as I was being greeted by a prearranged driver, a man in plainclothes approached to demand my passport. The driver whispered for me to ignore him and keep walking fast, after which the man in plainclothes flashed a gun under his shirt and said, “OK, you’ll see.”

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W.H.O. labels COVID-19 related graft as murder

All 54 countries on the continent have been affected by the highly infectious COVID 19, with over 1.1 million cases and and 27,000 deaths according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been allegations of corruption scandals involving personal protective equipment in Africa such as in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa.

W.H.O. chief labels cases related to COVID 19 corruption as murder.

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Nigerian Financial Crime Office To Go After Looters Assets In Ghana, Other African Countries

The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, has revealed that looters now hide stolen assets in Ghana and other African countries and the commission will go after them.

Magu, who stated this in Abuja where he was inducted into the 2020 hall of fame by the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Resources Management And Politics (Ghana), said the EFCC is on the verge of signing an agreement with these countries that will allow the commission trace and recover stolen assets directly from these countries.

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World Whistleblowing Day: AFRICMIL Calls For Passage Of Whistleblower Protection Law In Nigeria

The African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has called for the passage of a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria. In a statement to mark this year’s World Whistleblowing Day, the organisation noted that Nigeria is playing catch-up with an issue other African countries like Ghana, South Africa, and Uganda have formalized.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to pass a law for the protection of whistleblowers in Nigeria. In December 2016, the federal government introduced a whistleblower policy, which does not provide a legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers.

Different countries around the world are realizing the importance of whistleblowers who have been described as the “first line of defence against crimecorruption and cover-up.” June 23 every year is celebrated as World Whistleblowing Day to raise public awareness about the important role of whistleblowers in combating corruption.

This year’s celebration is coming on the heels of a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has created a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty for Nigerians. It has also highlighted the importance of accountability and the need for regular and reliable information from public and private institutions and officials.

“It’s for this reason that we need Nigerians to speak up and be listened to if they have concerns about health and safety, fraud or other types of wrongdoing in the public interest in the management of the COVID-19 crisis, said Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL.

“Nigerians need to know the truth about the spread of the disease to respond effectively and help protect their communities. Transparency is vital and never more so than during a pandemic. We encourage all citizens and workers to participate in ensuring our governments, corporate institutions, both public and private, remain accountable during this crisis and beyond.”

We celebrate whistleblowers in the country for their patriotism. They keep us safe and ensure that funds are not diverted when they speak out against fraud, abuse and corruption.

In the last three years, AFRICMIL has been implementing a project tagged Corruption Anonymous , supported by the MacArthur Foundation , which aims to highlight the importance of whistleblowing in the fight against corruption and the need to protect whistle blowers from retaliation.

Source: Chido Onumah (modernghana.com)

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Ghana has tried to be responsible with its oil wealth. This is how.

After Ghana discovered oil and gas in 2007, the government and civil society aspired to avoid the “resource curse”. This is when countries have an abundance of non-renewable natural resources but no economic growth.

Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad are among the oil producers that have failed to channel their resources into the material improvement of their countries and people.

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