Ghana Beneficial Ownership Regime Process Underway

The government has commenced the processes on Ghana’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure (BOD) from being legislation to the implementation stage to meet the 2020 deadline.

A beneficial ownership register seeks to make public, the name of a person or group of persons who directly or indirectly ultimately own or control a corporate entity.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, speaking at a stakeholder workshop on supporting the Registrar-General’s Department to develop an implementation framework for BOD register in Ghana, said the country has made significant strides towards enhancing transparency in the extractive sector.

The workshop organized by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Secretariat and the Registrar-General’s Department seeks to identify what the key implementation issues will entail, based on a framework with clear timelines and support the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) to develop the regulations for the Companies Amendment Act to facilitate the creation of a Beneficial Ownership register.

Dr. Steve Manteaw, the Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, said for Ghana to derive the maximum benefit from the extractive industry, there was the need for beneficial ownership disclosure to be part of the sectors rules and regulates.