Good governance and anti-corruption drive launched
A Good Governance Leadership (GGL) series aimed at deliberating on ways to promote good corporate governance, as well as fighting corruption in public office, has been launched by Action Chapel International (ACI).
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The first in the series of events to champion the cause is a Good Corporate Governance Leadership Conference scheduled for January 31 this year.
A collaboration among the church, Krif Ghana and the US Embassy, the event to be held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra is part of a series of initiatives to fight a canker that many say has become institutionalised in almost all spheres of national life.
At a media briefing in Accra yesterday, the Chief of Staff of the Action Chapel International, Rev. Kennedy Okosun, said the conference and many other events were part of the church's contribution to ensuring "good and worthy systems that will accelerate development".
The conference is expected to bring together more than 300 participants from political parties, corporate organisations, civil society organisations, ministries, departments and agencies, international organisations and members of the diplomatic corps.
It will be on the theme: “Accelerating Ghana’s Development Through Transparency and Integrity”.
Corruption laws
Ghana’s laws make corruption a high-risk venture but in reality many see it as a thriving venture where businesses evade tax, public officials receive bribes to facilitate transaction and ordinary citizens are compelled to offer bribes before basic services are delivered.
Topics expected to be discussed during the one-day conference include: 'Implementing integrity into Ghana's national development’ and 'The practice of integrity in corporate Ghana: possible or mere idealism".
Under the patronage of the Founder and General Overseer of the ACI, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, the conference is expected to snowball into a movement of change against corruption.
Going global
"Following the conference on January 31, we envisage that in the next five years, the Good Corporate Governance Conference would have been held in several capitals of countries in the world where the subject of transparency, integrity and good governance is an issue.”
"It is also our belief that the subject will feature strongly among deliberations at the United Nations General Assembly where we hope to address the assembly on the need for greater commitment to ensuring good corporate governance as an integral part of national development.”
Rev. Okosun said in the near future, the Good Corporate Governance initiative would offer a different approach to combating corruption.
The approach includes the provision for an avenue for organisation to sign on to a Good Corporate Governance concept and receive charters that would be displayed in their offices.
Companies that excel in keeping to the principles of the charter will be awarded.
Asked about the possibility of naming and shaming perpetrators of corrupt activities, he said if discussions at the conference and the country’s laws permitted the practice, it could become part of the initiative.
Vital ingredients
The Economic Counsellor of the US Embassy, Mr Jimmy Mauldin, observed that integrity, transparency and good governance were vital to the success and development of any country.
“Their absence inflicts substantial costs upon the economy, society, security and saps confidence in the rule of law. These are issues we grapple with every day in the United States and these are issues that must be addressed here in Ghana too.”
He said the initiative would provide a great opportunity for leaders from all shades of national life to begin a dialogue.
“Let’s identify some areas that need attention and possibly come up with some practical ways in which we can work together,” he added.