Report on the Launch of the Alliance for Integrity in Ghana

Internal Reports

Report on the Launch of the Alliance for Integrity in Ghana

The Alliance for Integrity, a business driven multi-stakeholder initiative between multinational companies, civil society, political organizations and international institutions officially launched its Ghana wing on the 27^th of April 2016. The Alliance for Integrity currently operates in three countries: India, Brazil and Ghana.

Reported by Isidore Kpotufe | IMANI Africa

Context

The aim of the Alliance for Integrity is to promote integrity among companies, their business partners and other relevant actors in the economic system. In addition, it contributes to better framework conditions by fostering dialog between the public and private sector.

The official launch of the Ghana wing of the Alliance took place at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, in the presence of high ranking officials from Government, Private Sector and Civil Society notably Hon. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State in charge of Private Sector Development (Ghana), Mr. Siegfried Leffler, Country Director of GIZ, Mr. Wilson Atta-Krofah, Past President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Wileb Mining Supplies.

Activities

The event started at 9:00 with an induction by Mr. Noble Kumawu, President of the Organisation Development Institute who also served as a moderator of the event. The introduction session was followed by a welcome address by Dr. Nicole Maldonado who is the Head of Development Corporation at the German Embassy in Accra. In her address, Dr. Nicole acknowledged that corruption is a complex issue, thus requires a concerted and multifaceted action to fight it. According to her, one way to fight the canker is to strengthen governance mechanism. She reiterated Germany’s commitment to fighting corruption and supporting governance reforms all over the world. She indicated that the Alliance for Integrity is an important and integrated tool for fighting corruption and financial irregularities all over the world.

The keynote address was delivered by the Minister of State in charge of Private Sector Development, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, with call for businesses to embrace integrity to ensure their growth and the development of the business environment. In disclosing the need for stakeholders to support the initiative, Mr. Pelpuo was emphatic that “corruption does not only increase inequality amongst society but it also creates unfair competition and distorts markets”, adding that “in many societies, corruption has achieved a state of equilibrium that cannot be changed by individual actors easily. This is why I welcome the Alliance for Integrity as a multi-stakeholder collective action initiative”.

Other speakers at the event, which was held under the theme “Ensuring Collective Action to Foster Integrity in the Private Sector”, included Siegfried Leffler, Country Director of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Alliance for Integrity Advisory Group Chairperson in Ghana and Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative.

The event also witnessed insightful breakout workshops centred on compliance and integrity and were facilitated by leading professionals including Christian Müller, Global Compliance Officer, SAP SE (Germany) and member of the Alliance for Integrity’s Steering Committee; Eric Victor Appiah, Director of Benchmarking, Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Procurement Authority, and Wilson Atta-Krofah, Past President Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry and CEO of Wileb Mining Supplies.

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Isidore Kpotufe is Communications Director and Head of IMANI Francophone at IMANI Africa.