Parliamentarians have been urged to ensure that Ghana does not lose the fight against illicit financial flows (IFFs). The call was placed at a forum on ‘harnessing legislative power for tax justice’ which saw the official launch of the Ghana Caucus of the African Parliamentary Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation (APNIFFT) at Parliament House on Tuesday.

According to a UN report on IFFs, Africa is estimated to have lost in excess of $1 trillion due to illicit financial flows over the last 50 years and the continent is estimated to be losing more than $50 billion annually. The phenomenon of IFFs in society retards development as activities such as tax evasion, capital flight and cross-border illicit trade denies a country of the needed investment into productive sectors of the economy. In Ghana, however, about $1.4 billion is lost to IFFs and taxation each year an amount which could go a long way to improve public infrastructure like schools and health services.

Speaking at the forum, the Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin (MP, Effutu) urged the Ghana caucus to take guidance from the existing legislations in their advocacy on the floor of Parliament. He said, “Fortunately, our country has been very proactive in enacting laws and these laws will fortify your work; the amendment of the companies Act, the enactment of the mutual legal assistance Act, which allows for transfer/ sharing of information by various countries.”

The First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu (MP, Bekwai) on his part bemoaned the losses that Ghana makes as a country due to IFFs. He observed that, “if we allow so much illicit outflow when our public needs, need to invest in public infrastructure, unfortunately, we will borrow and not provide services”.

APNIFFT is a flagship programme coordinated by Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) with an overall objective to provide an opportunity for its members, the African legislators, to strategise, learn from each other and build their capacities in tackling IFFs and tax injustices in the continent. The network currently boasts a total of 702 members from 43 countries in Africa.

The Ghana caucus is currently made up of 35 MPs with John Osei Frimpong (MP, Abirem) as Interim Chairman.