VEEP Champions Fight Against Money Laundering in West Africa

Ghana’s Vice President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has tasked Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders to protect the architecture dedicated to combating Money Laundering (ML), Financing of Terrorism (TF), and Weapons Proliferation across the sub-region.

She further underscored the indispensable link between robust financial crime prevention and the sub-region’s security and sustainable development, adding that, there is an urgent need for a resilient and adaptive regional framework.

She made this known at the 2nd Extraordinary Meeting of the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in Accra.

The Vice President commended GIABA members for their dedication to ensuring that West African states adopt adequate measures in line with acceptable international practices and standards.

“Your work, often behind the scenes, is of great importance to regional security and sustainable development. This is an opportunity for reflection and foresight, and to reimagine how our regional institutions respond to emerging threats, adapt to evolving contexts, and expand the frontiers of cooperation”.

She added, “As leaders and stakeholders, our responsibility is to ensure that our regional architecture for combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Weapons remains robust, inclusive, and forward-looking. That architecture must be capable of addressing emerging threats within stable jurisdictions and across all of West Africa”.

Concluding her address, Professor Opoku-Agyemang called for unwavering unity and collaboration among member states.

“Let this meeting serve not only as a forum for policy, but also as a platform for a partnership that will lead to a more united and resilient West Africa”.

Ghana, as a stable democracy and active member of ECOWAS, regularly hosts and participates in regional security and economic initiatives.

The success of these efforts hinges on sustained political will, enhanced cross-border cooperation, and the rigorous implementation of international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards across all member states.

In a separate Facebook post after the event, the Vice President reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to the fight across West Africa.

Read full post below:

Today, I had the honour of opening the second extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). This was a high-level engagement on the future of Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing efforts in the ECOWAS region.

Welcoming the delegates, Hon. Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice of Nigeria, highlighted the role GIABA plays. The outgoing Director General, Mr. Edwin W. Harris Jnr, commended the committee for their hard work and wished his successor, Hon. Sheku Bangura, the Minister for Finance of Sierra Leone, all the best.

In my address, I commended GIABA for their commitment to ensuring that member states are equipped against money laundering, terrorism financing and weapons financing in line with acceptable international practices and standards.

I urged them to see this meeting as an opportunity to reimagine how our regional institutions react to emerging threats and to our evolving realities, while expanding the frontiers of cooperation.