Teshie-Ghana, May 28, CDA Consult – Mr. Benjamin Ndego, Ghana’s National Correspondent for Anti-Money Laundering in GIABA (International Money Laundering in West Africa), has called for the establishment of an Africa Central Criminal Data System (ACCDS) to effectively fight transnational organized crimes.
Mr. Ndego, who is also Compliance and Risk Manager for Africa at Travelex Worldwide Money, noted that with such a system, security services would have access to the needed information on transnational organized crime actors and be able to crack down on their activities.
He noted that with globalization, crimes that hitherto countries could easily fight on their own have become transnational, making it easier for actors to use improved communication, finances, and transportation to increase their activities.
Mr. Ndego made the recommendation at the ongoing two-week course on Maritime Security and Transnational Organized Crime (MSTOC).
34 professionals from 13 Gulf of Guinea countries are participating in the workshop, organized by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and supported by the German government.
He said Africans must stop giving excuses that would prevent them from working together in cooperation to win such fights and rather create the needed transparency that would make it easy for them to share information for the benefit of the continent.
Mr. Ndego, who is also the Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Nigeria for Travelex, said there was a need for the modification of traditional state-centric responses to take into account the nature of these new threats and the involvement of non-state actors.
He said such a modified response should be coordinated with international responses, and the strengthening of regional cooperation, adding that a multi-lateral approach that involves the whole international community is also required to counter these non-traditional threats.
He further called for governments to also focus on human security-related issues as well as target money laundering policies, in addition to setting up task forces to prevent cross-border crimes and for trans-border intelligence sharing.
He said law enforcement cooperation and conducting intel-guided operations were very important in the fight against transnational organized crimes.
Mr. Ndego encouraged countries to solve border disputes, develop infrastructure, and have coordinated patrolling while cooperating with other countries to multiply their efforts along the border devoid of conflicts to strengthen the rule of law and defeat security challenges.
He said transnational organized crimes, if not tackled, have the capacity to weaken the financial and economic systems of countries and undermine democracy.
He added that the whole of West Africa, for instance, was under attack from narcotic traffickers that were buying economic assets and political power, adding that they work against the peace and stability of nations internationally and often use bribery, terror, and violence to meet their goals.
