‘Collaborative efforts needed to address corruption’

Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, has called for collaborative efforts to address corruption in the society.

Mrs Trebarh said corruption cuts across all sectors and retards national development and it would take the partnership of civil society organisations and the citizenry to mitigate the menace.

She made the call on Wednesday at a Business Integrity Forum on the topic: “Corruption as a Barrier to Investment in Ghana-Legislations, Policies and Controls.”

The forum was organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, with support from Vodafone Ghana.

The objective of the forum was to create a platform for corporate bodies to share each company’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies to promote transparency and accountability in business practices.

Mrs Trebarh said the country had attracted the attention of well-known international businesses, investing in all sectors of the economy due to the conducive social, political and economic environment.

She said the GIPC Act, 2013 (Act 865) provided guarantees including the prohibition against discrimination and expropriation to all enterprises.

“Ghana is a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank, which provides investment guarantees against non-commercial risk for investments in developing countries,” Mrs Trebarh said.

She said the GIPC had instituted an ongoing project to implement a one-stop-shop system targeted at reducing the cost and time for business registration in the country.

Mrs Trebarh said the Centre has developed a system for the registration of investments within five working days with rigorous procedures for executing strategic investments.

“GIPC is committed, through its legislation, processes and procedures across stakeholder groups, to supporting all individuals and collective efforts in mitigating corruption in the country,” she said.