Accra, Ghana, November 29, 2018//-A new book on natural resources has been launched in Accra, Ghana with a call on resource-rich countries to focus on good governance, transparency, the engagement of stakeholders and an effective fiscal regime to help create the environment for effective use of natural resources for development.
The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali who made the call, added that without strong management and oversight in the use of natural resources could undermine development and some cases had led to wars.
“For the natural resources and extractives sectors, corruption in management and governance is particularly challenging, and difficult to mitigate”, he said.
“Assessing the many deals and transactions is often even more difficult and complicated, particularly in countries with weak regulatory governance, where transparency and integrity safeguards are lacking”.
The newly book titled-‘License to Drill: A Manual on Integrity in Extractive Sector Licensing’ and authored by Cari Votava, a Senior Financial Specialist at the World Bank, is a practical manual which identifies good practice options for reducing corruption risks in the extractives sector.
Although there are many points in the extractives value chain where corruption can emerge, the manual focuses on the licensing process because the decisions made at this early stage are among the most critical.
The 160-page book suggests steps, strategies and options for conducting integrity checks on applicants for licenses- whether the applicants are individuals or companies.
The background checks covered include: verifying beneficial ownership; criminal background checks; and conflict of interest checks.
According to the book, a “beneficial owner” is a person who owns or controls a legal entity (company) or benefits from its assets. The Extractive Industry Transparency International (EITI) of which Ghana is a member, requires public disclosure of the identities of beneficial owners as well as identifying which have the status of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPS).
African Eye Report
