Danish Ambassador to Ghana, H.E Tove Degnbol has said Danish businesses and companies operating in the country are often confronted with demands of paying illegal fees to authorities.
In a remark, at the inauguration of the Ghana Integrity Initiative’s (GII) ‘Speak Up, Resist and Report Corruption’ in Accra, Degnbol said, “Danish companies here in Ghana, meet at regular intervals for breakfast meetings in the embassy to exchange experiences when they are faced with pressures to pay illegal fees, and how to avoid succumbing to the pressure, while discussing other matters as well,” she said.
Degnbol explained that, some of those companies had exchanged experiences with the GII and other organizations who are active in the fight against corruption in order to benefit from their analysis of the situation.
“The interest by our companies to participate in such exchanges is high, and the embassy is using the consolidated experience in our dialogue with relevant government partners on how best to improve the situation,” she indicated.
Highlighting on some collaborative measures between the two countries, the ambassador explained that Denmark is supporting GII’s anti-corruption work as part of that country’s Tax and Development Programme.
Instructively, GII and the Danish government are both collaborating with the Ghana Revenue Authority and IMANI to ensure transparency and dialogue on results of implementing tax reforms in the country.
“The Tax and Development Programme was designed to support increased revenue collection to sustain Ghana’s public finances in the critical years of 2015-2019 when the country is ‘moving beyond aid’ with preparations to do with reduced levels of development cooperation funds and grants, adding, “in the years to come, Ghana’s own finances will have to fill the financing gap for its development pursuits,” she said.
GII’s Executive Director, Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, told the Goldstreet Business that the project, which is an Interfaith Anti-Corruption Initiative titled ‘Speak Up, Resist and Report Corruption’ is a call to action.
The project, she explained, seeks to enlist the support of religious leaders and faith based organizations to lead the fight against corruption as required under the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP, 2015-2014).
With support from DANIDA, the project covers two strategic thematic areas which are, public education and capacity building as well as cultivating an anti-corruption behaviour in the citizenry.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
