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Terrorism bill in Parliament
Accra, July 12, Ghanadot/GNA - A bill is before Parliament
to include terrorism as an offence in the Criminal Code to
strengthen national security on the prevention of terrorist
attack.
The bill, which is expected to receive Presidential assent
by the end of July, would add up to other international
conventions ratified by Ghana to check the menace.
Mr H.A.L. Mbiah, Chief Director for the Ministry for
National Security, made this known at a seminar in Accra for
the Drafting of a National Anti-Money Laundering/Combating
Terrorist Fighting Strategy for ECOWAS English-speaking
countries.
The seminar attended by security experts from The Gambia,
Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, Kenya and
Mauritius converged in Accra to brainstorm on ways to
tighten the screw on regional crime on money laundering and
terrorism.
Mr Mbiah said African countries should not see terrorism as
not concerning them since nobody ever anticipated that
Tanzania and Kenya would have been attacked.
He said any attack targeted on a foreign mission in any
African state would definitely have adverse effects on the
state.
The Chief Director mentioned the International Convention
for Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, International
Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism Bombing and the
OAU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism
as some interventions to maximise national security.
Mr Mbiah said the bill, which
would soon go through its second reading, would clearly
spell out the country's provisions on what constituted
terrorism offences and the punishment for people who either
engaged in or financed it.
On anti-money laundering, Mr Mbiah noted that Ghana was on
course to establish a Financial Intelligence Unit and review
national laws to track down activities of those who engaged
in the fraud.
He said the Unit which is expected to be established by the
end of the year would also facilitate the exchange of
intelligence with other countries to check the circulation
of money from illegal sources often used to promote crime
and terrorist activities.
Ms. Delphine Schantz, Facilitator and Representative of the
UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), said the seminar
provided the platform for participants to adopt
comprehensive documents for effective monitoring of
anti-money laundering and terrorism in their countries.
She said anti-money laundering systems were crucial to
eliminate crime often financed from such illegal sources.
The participants proposed the establishment of a National
Coordinating Committee within member countries to coordinate
activities related to the two issues.
The seminar was sponsored by UNDOC, Commonwealth
Secretariat, Ministry of National Security and the
Inter-governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and
Terrorism Financing in West Africa (GIABA) based in Dakar,
Senegal.
GNA
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