The Assistant Commissioner and Special Technical Adviser to the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Dominic Naab, has highlighted the alarming issue of illicit financial flows in Ghana. Naab revealed that the country is losing billions of dollars due to this illicit activity.
According to a report by the Africa Center for Energy Policy Research, Ghana suffers an annual loss of over $739 million as a result of illicit financial flows. This staggering figure underscores the severity of the problem and its detrimental impact on the country’s economy.
Naab, who also serves as the Deputy Commissioner of GRA, emphasized that illicit financial flows pose a significant challenge to Ghana’s efforts in revenue mobilization. This illicit activity hampers the country’s ability to generate the necessary funds for development and public services.
These concerns were raised by Naab during a public forum organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa in collaboration with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and Financial Intelligence Center. The forum aimed to shed light on the issue and foster discussions on potential solutions.
The forum was on the theme; ” Improving Resource Mobilisation and Combating Illicit Financial Flows In Ghana: The Role of the Media and Other Stakeholders.”
Mr. George Swanzy Winful, the Director of the Revenue Policy Division at the Ministry of Finance, stated that the African Union (AU) has defined illicit financial flows as money that is illegally used or transferred. He pointed out that according to a World Bank report, Ghana loses an annual sum of three hundred and forty million US dollars due to illicit financial flows.
In order to combat this issue, Mr Winful emphasized the importance of the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) taking a keen interest in this subject by shedding more light on the prevalence of illicit financial flows within the country.
Furthermore, Mr George Swanzy Winful hinted that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) could play a more assertive role if it is shielded from political interference.
Source: Oyerepafmonline.com / Bernard K Dadzie
