Alliance for Integrity Celebrates Integrity Week in Ghana

The Alliance for Integrity has held its Integrity Week in Ghana with a number of activities. The Integrity Week which took place in Accra saw the organisation of a meeting of the Capacity Building Working Group on June 13, 2017, a Compliance Training for Businesses on June 14, 2017 and a conference on ‘Making Compliance Attractive to Businesses in Developing Countries’ on June 15, 2017.

The Capacity Building Working Group meeting offered participants the opportunity to review adapted training materials for the pharmaceutical industry and the shipping industry and also plan towards future training activities in Tarkwa and Sunyani. The meeting was also joined by Christina Pfandl, the Coordinator Africa at the Alliance for Integrity who thanked the Working Group members for their commitment and engagement and informed about the global activities of the initiative.

The following day, the Compliance Training for Businesses brought together several participants from various sectors of the economy who were trained in corruption prevention and compliance. The training was facilitated by Mark Ofori-Kwafo of Ecobank Ghana, Eric Nii Boi Quartey of the Association of Certified Compliance Professionals in Africa (ACCPA), and Patrick Kwadzie of Kenycorb Ghana.

The Integrity Week was crowned with the half-day conference on ‘Making Compliance Attractive to Businesses in Africa’, which brought together various stakeholders including top executives of large companies, representatives from business chambers, small and medium-sized enterprises, civil society and the public sector from different regions in Ghana. The event also provided a platform for the launch of the Alliance for Integrity’s newest publication “Ensuring Compliance – A Practical Handbook for Businesses in Ghana”.

Dr. Nicole Maldonado, Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Ghana delivered the welcome address before, Michael Boadi, from Ghana Integrity Initiative who is a member of the Awareness Creation Working Group of the Alliance for Integrity presented the new publication. Before the conference’s topic was discussed on a multi-stakeholder panel the Chief Director of Hon. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Minister for Business Development, Joe Tackie delivered a keynote address to the audience.

The panel, which counted with the participation of Edwin Langmer, Universal Merchant Bank, Eric Victor Appiah, Public Procurement Authority, Helen Opoku-Agyeman, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and Seth Twum-Akwaboah, Association of Ghana Industries focused on the difference between integrity and compliance and showed how to make compliance attractive for small and medium sized enterprises. They often lack information on the topic and the panellists emphasised that publications like the new handbook can be a good way to provide information on compliance. It is important to create an environment which makes it easy for companies and their employees to comply with the rules. John Duti from the Alliance for Integrity thanked all the participants of the conference and called upon them to stay active in the area of corruption prevention – may this be through the participation in a working group or through the dissemination of the Handbook in their networks.