Abesim-Sunyani, Nov. 5, GNA – The National Secretariat of the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) has called on stakeholders to provide effective inputs into the NPO Bill to provide a strong legal mechanism to combat money laundering and prevent terrorism in Ghana.
Mr Dela Ashiagbor, the Head of NPOs Secretariat, made the call at a day’s engagement on NPO’s Bill 2021 on Thursday at Abesim near Sunyani.
He said the organisations were part of the driving force of the country’s economic development and must have a legal framework to back their operations to become a robust body with integrity to help attract more but genuine sponsorships.
Mr Ashiagbor said organisations, which were improperly structured, thus not having governing boards and bad financial systems, sometimes received funds, unknowingly from terrorist groups, to support their activities.
The programme aimed at soliciting inputs from the NPOs into the draft bill and was attended by 40 participants drawn from the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions.
It was organised by the NPOs Secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social protection (MGCSP) and sponsored by the Financial Intelligence Centre, MGCSP and German Development Agency (GIZ).
Mr Ashiagbor said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure NPOs provided lawful services to the deprived, underprivileged and the public.
He said the legal framework (Bill) would ensure that stakeholders become dynamic, transparent and positively impact their target groups free from money laundering and terrorist groups but work for public interest to attain national progress.
Mr Ashiagbor said countries, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Liberia and La Cote d’ Ivoire became victims of terrorism through similar organisations and were now suffering from the activities of those groups.
He said there were 10,800 NPOs but many were not being recognised, making it difficult to regulate their activities to prevent crime.
The NPO is an umbrella body of non-governmental and civil society organisations, associations, foundations and centres engaged in charitable, religious, cultural, educational, health and social activities for the public good.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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