Around a quarter of Africa’s GDP -- $148 billion -- is lost to corruption annually, according to the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Ghana, Patricia Alsup, as quoted on the Ghanaian government website. Bribery of corrupt officials costs the continent between $20 and $40 billion, Alsup added.
The comments came at the opening ceremony for the West Africa Regional Anti-Corruption Workshop. The workshop, which serves as a vehicle for accountability and transparency promotion, was convened to discuss the efficacy of local anti-corruption and bribery laws and methods of enforcement improvement. Participants in the workshop hailed from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Tanzania, as well as the US, and will discuss methods of investigating and prosecuting corruption, bribery, and other financial crimes. Attendees will also learn to use international networks and tools to more efficiently tackle these illegal activities.
The Regional Workshop is part of a broader US effort to tackle corruption and other crimes in West Africa, and falls under the West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative, a joint effort between the US and its West African partners to address the growing threat of transnational organized crime and drug trafficking in West Africa.