https://fightagainstfinancialcrime.com
This Book looks at how the role of effective Leadership contributes in the fight beyond specific countries Against Financial Crime and illicit financial flows (fin-iffs) in the African region. The Book zeroed in on Financial Crime, illicit Financial Flows, like Money Laundering, Bribery and Corruption and illicit trade to illustrate the larger scale and the need for effectiveness of African Leaders to combat this menaced: criminal activity is a source of Financial Crime that has a direct relationship to effective Leadership and the dangers it poses for good governance and delivery of social services in Africa. This nexus has received little scholastic attention, yet criminal activity continues to pose negative impact on National development in Africa that hamper effective governance.
Why focus on the Leadership of Africa Continental Free Trade Zone Area?
Several countries in the African continent are suffering from extremely low development indicators because of weak state leaders and their institutions hence the present capacity gaps for developing effective and efficient regulations to combat Financial Crime. As in many developing countries, a large share of uncontrollable economic activity takes place in the informal economy. Not everything informal is bad: in fact, the informal sector often provides precious livelihoods, particularly for the poor. Yet what happens informally happens outside the checks and balances of regulatory systems. As a result, Financial Crime activities like illicit or criminal activities are allowed to flourish more easily, with negative implications for good governance, Educational infrastructure, Health Services, Good Roads, Youth Employment, Agricultural, Peace, stability and development. Under these conditions, resource diversion and other illegal acts that affect a country’s development easily thrive, and damage the integrity of institutions, and distort political governance in ways that disrupt the relationship between citizens and the state thereby put unnecessary pressure on state leaders. Across the region, Financial Crime and illicit financial flows are known to have resourced violent and protracted conflicts due to poor leadership and ineffective monitoring; in the sahel, they resource terrorist groups. Although it is impossible to isolate specific conditions leading directly to criminal activity, structural factors (such as high unemployment and income inequality, exposure to violence, low levels of gross domestic product and weak institutional capacities and ineffective leadership) are known to contribute to a country’s vulnerability. This Book feeds into a strategy of fighting financial Crime and illicit Financial Flows in the African Continental Free Trade Zone Area (AfCFTA,) mandated with the development for co-operation to increase the capacity and effectiveness of African Leaders with issues-based evidence in the area of addressing the risks they pose to National development and insecurity. This strategy started with the publication of Financial Crime advocacy tool for developing countries: measuring the African Continental Free Trade Zone Area responses. Looking at some researched and publications work done, and in the process the Author have discovered that none has written on the Need for Effectiveness of Leadership in Combating Financial Crime and yet the magnitude of the problem remained wider and broader that needs additional research work that begs the need for this Book.
The Effective Leadership is a framework for Africa Continental Free Trade Zone Area member countries to increase their investigations and repatriations of stolen assets to their countries of origin, to do that needs effective leadership driven concept and that is what this new Book is all about, to reduce the negative impact of Financial Crime to National Development in Africa Countries and to focus on preventing Financial Crime and illicit financial flows.
The Book also contributed to a new way of understanding the Impact of Financial Crime and illicit financial flows for National Development as reflected in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development which acknowledges Financial Crime and illicit financial flows as inherently linked to hamper development. The overarching message is timeless: resolving some of the African’s most pressing problems, in this instance Financial Crime and illicit financial flows, requires responding to development challenges, and working in countries at all levels of development to address each part of the spectrum – source, transit and destination. Tackling African challenges requires reforms to happen on all sides