The Board Chair of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Elsie Bunyan has asked workers of both public and private businesses to desist from giving out or receiving bribes from people in their line of work.

Giving stringent measures on how the private sector can help fight the corruption canker that has engulfed them, she projected that “companies can take internal steps to prevent corruption. Every company needs zero-tolerance for bribery and corruption. This must be enforced through specific anti-corruption measures spelt out, including an anti-corruption code”.

Speaking at the maiden multi-stakeholder business integrity forum of the year in Accra on the theme, “Promoting business integrity and anti-corruption in Ghana; the role of the private sector”, Elsie Bunyan noted that the afore-mentioned, when done, will lead to the growth of the sector which will trickle down to create jobs for Ghanaians.

Currently, the major challenge facing the private sector is the corrupt nature of workers, co-businessmen and this attitude exhibited by them continuously impedes the effectiveness of the sector.

“Transparency International postulates that over 1.26 trillion US dollars is lost to developing countries every year through cross border corruption, foreign bribery, tax evasion, and related illicit financial flows. This presents a huge challenge to realising the 2030 developmental agenda of the US Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.

She, therefore, called on government to enforce international anti-corruption bribery laws and conventions that will protect companies from corruption across borders and down supply chains.

Elsie Bunyan also urged heads of companies to take action against persons who are found culpable to allow transparency at the workplace.