Andrew Barnes speaking at the launch of the book
The Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Andrew Barnes, has charged government and civil society organisations to seriously deal with the canker of corruption within the extractive industry in the country.
Mr. Barnes was speaking on Thursday in Accra at the launch of a book by the World Bank Group.
Entitled ‘License To Drill; Manual On Integrity, Due Diligence For Extractives Sector Licensing’, the book proffers solutions to addressing illicit activities in the extractive industry in Ghana.
The 139-page book focuses on good practice options to conduct integrity checks on applicants for licenses consisted of beneficial ownership checks, criminal background checks and conflict of interest checks to ensure licenses are granted only to those likely to meet high integrity standards in developing the country’s valuable assets.
The commissioner said, “Australia has been dealing with extractive and natural resources close to 200 years; we still have devices about licenses with royalties transparency and accuracy.”
He, however, stated that “before any countries continue to work it must consider improving transparency and efficiency to be able to tackle corruption there must be independent investigation and proper declaration of assets.”
Mr. Andrew bemoaned the challenges in developing countries in Africa is poor management of natural resources, a situation he said should be checked thoroughly.
An excerpt from the book read, “In any country, overall economic development, poverty reduction, and job creation depend more on some sectors than on others.”
It continued, “Critical sectors differ from country to country, because the economies of some may depend heavily on natural resources or extractive sectors, whereas in others they may rely more heavily on the financial, manufacturing, or other sectors. Generally, a critical sector is any sector is key to supporting economic development in terms of profitability, economic growth, and job creation.”
The author of the book, Cari Votava, expressed the view that “it will be useful for officials and experts seeking to improve the quality and transparency of regulatory governance of natural resources sectors in Ghana.”
Paul Nyojah Dalafu