US supports Ghana to curb corruption
Ghana is benefiting from a $115 million annual support from the United States (US) for selected African countries to build their capacities to fight corruption.
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The move is part of the US foreign assistance efforts to support governments to create stronger laws and more effective institutions to investigate, prosecute and secure convictions.
A Deputy Director in the Office of Anti-Crime Programmes in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the State Department of US, Mr Robert Leventhal, said the capacity-building initiative was to put in place measures to prevent corruption, foster oversight and promote government integrity and transparency in the participating countries.
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Media hub telephonic press briefing
Mr Leventhal was speaking at an Africa regional media hub telephonic press briefing on the US anti-corruption efforts in Africa as part of this year’s inauguration of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery held in Washington, USA and the International Anti-Corruption Day.
The telephonic press briefing which linked up journalists from across the continent was jointly addressed by Mr Leventhal and the Anti-Corruption Advisor in the Office of Anti-Crime Programmes in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the State Department of US, Mr Kellen McClure.
Role of media
Mr Leventhal explained that the State Department recognised that the role of journalists in a strong democratic society was critical, adding: “We all know journalism and independent media play an important role in anti-corruption.”
“Preventing and combating corruption in Africa is an important part of our efforts to address anti-corruption abroad.
“As you’re all aware, pandemic corruption is still a huge challenge faced by citizens across the region,” Mr Leventhal said.
Citing the 2015 Transparency International Afrobarometer Survey, he said, for example, that 22 per cent of people who came into contact with the public service in the previous six months in the sub-Saharan Africa had paid a bribe.
He indicated that in East and West Africa, the programmes raised awareness of the role of corruption in violent extremism and also supported investigative journalism.
Asset recovery
“So, for this reason, the department runs several programmes across the region to build the justice sector’s capacity to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials.
“We also support the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative and something called the Global Focal Points Network which helps provide support to countries, building the capacity to investigate financial crimes and seek international cooperation on asset recovery,” he further explained.
Mr Leventhal said the US was encouraging African countries to embrace assets declaration of government appointees before they took up offices as an effective way of stopping them from amassing wealth while in office.
That, he said, was in recognition that asset recovery, even when there was strong political will on both sides, was complicated and could be time consuming.
MoU between Switzerland and Nigeria
Contributing, Mr McClure told the journalists that at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery held recently, Switzerland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria to return $321 million in stolen assets, adding: “So the cases can take a long time but they are having more and more success.”
He underscored the role of civil society organisations in exposing corrupt officials, citing for instance that it was a civil society organisation, Global Witness, that highlighted and exposed the corrupt assets from the Second Vice-President of the Equatorial Guinea, “which actually prompted an investigation by the United States government that ultimately resulted in the seizure of about $30 million worth of assets”.