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The Director-General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) under ECOWAS, Mr. Edwin W. Harris Jnr. has appealed to Ghanaian journalists to help deepen efforts in identifying and exposing money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

According to him, the media remains a veritable channel of increasing awareness, especially on money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF), among the populace.

He said this at a 2-day programme by GIABA for media outreach and advocacy activities held at the Alisa hotel in Accra from Monday, November 27 to Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

In a speech read on his behalf by Timothy Melaye, the Head of Communications at GIABA, the objective of GIABA AML/CFT media outreach is to harness the massive potential of the media to increase awareness on money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) issues in West Africa.

The outreach activities involved a day each for official advocacy and sensitization visit to the management and editorial team of selected media organizations and an interactive session with reporters in Accra aimed at establishing desk officers for GIABA in media houses.

It is also to liaise with the media to educate the populace on the negative impact of money laundering and terrorist financing and raise their interest in supporting the AML/CFT efforts spearheaded by GIABA.

A total of 15 selected journalists will benefit from the sensitization workshop on the roles of the media in the fight against economic and financial crimes.

The delegation sent by the Director General of GIABA will pay an advocacy visit to 5 media organizations.

The GIABA Director General stated that they have been working and building partnerships with media groups and individual journalists to bring to public awareness the negative consequences of ML/TF.

“The media plays critical role to promote good governance, ensures optimal deployment of state resources, facilitates the protection of rights of citizens and ensures that corrupt officials and corrupt practices are exposed. The media serves as a change agent particularly as an anti-corruption crusade.
“Therefore, this is another effort to establish and sustain further partnerships with media practitioners across the region. Desk Officers are to be selected through this initiative to attend and publicize GIABA’s activities”,  he emphasized.

He added; “Since 2009, GIABA has engaged the media through sensitization programs to facilitate their understanding of AML/CFT issues.
“A significant outcome of the program is forming a regional network of journalists involved in reporting economic and financial crimes.

“The network is a platform for information sharing and dissemination on the essence of implementing robust AML/CFT measures by GIABA member States.

“More importantly, the media must not allow itself to be used by suspected money launderers and looters of public treasury to truncate the course of justice.”
The workshop serves the following purposes:

• To bring together a broad section of the media from across the country under one group to identify and track down money laundering and financial terrorism activities within and outside the country.

• Equip the journalists with the right tool to cover, report, and investigate money laundering and other financial crimes in the best way that would help to stem the tide in the country.

• Equip journalists with the necessary knowledge to educate others in their respective organizations, region, cities, and towns.
Touching on the core mandate of GIABA, he said GIABA’s core mandate among others includes ensuring the implementation of AML/CFT standards in compliance with acceptable international standards and practices which includes the FATF 40 recommendations.

He admitted that though the challenges have been complex with its accompanying onerous task, GIABA has risen to the challenge through various high impact capacity-building programmes, technical assistance to various institutions of member States, sustained partnership with the international community and advocacy and sensitization programmes to a wide range of stakeholders.

“GIABA promotes the implementation of AML/CFT measures by member States, while taking into account regional peculiarities and environment.

“It also acts as a forum where members can discuss regional issues and share their experience.

“GIABA organises self and mutual evaluations to measure the effectiveness of the measures taken as well as their technical compliance with acceptable International Standards and conducts researches on trends and methods with far-reaching outcomes and recommendations to address the menace of ML/TF

“GIABA coordinates and supports member States in the implementation of AML/CFT systems and legislations regarding the proceeds of crime through mutual legal assistance and further assists member States in establishing and sustaining Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).”
The GIABA Director General was confident that this training workshop will become a springboard for renewed commitment by all journalists to identifying the key roles they play in raising awareness as they are crucial in the information chain on money laundering and terrorist financing.

“As the people bearing responsibility for the content of the news media, editors decide whether to give a news story on money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) prominence or to relegate it.”
On his part, Minister of Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah called for us to be more committed to programmes like this to help shape and build capacity as well as educate the public.

“It is critically important for our colleagues in the media, who shine the light on the things that should concern us the most in our democracy, to be abreast with the key developments in the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing ecosystem as we continue our journey in very turbulent times”, he stated.

The Minister of Information was also optimistic that the GIABA media outreach and advocacy programme will provide the media with the necessary skills to aid them contribute in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.

“Our region is increasingly becoming unstable. With the incidents on terrorism and insecurity on the rise. Recent events even in Northern Ghana where efforts to apprehend persons suspected to be associated with terrorism were thwarted by local youth, give cause for concern- that more needs to be done to raise the awareness of the society to her obligations in this fight,” Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah observed.
He further indicated the role of the media in securing the needed level of public awareness and cooperation saying “weak regulatory frameworks, political instability, highly informal economies, transactions across porous borders as well as growing sophistication in cyber activities are creating greater avenues for money laundering and terrorism financing. Money laundering and terrorism divert resources away from legitimate economic activities, hindering economic development and contributing to persistent poverty”.

“They exacerbate income inequality as the proceeds often benefit a small group of individuals or entities, widening the wealth gap…They can deter foreign investors, by signaling weaknesses in a country’s regulatory and governance frameworks. Persistent issues with money laundering can harm a country’s international reputation, affecting its standing in global financial markets and diplomatic relations.

“The media like other agencies has an important if not peculiar role to play in helping fight back. The media can educate the public about the dangers of money laundering and terrorism, its consequences, and how individuals can contribute to combating it”, he added.