Ghana’s Anna Bossman heads AfDB’s Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department

Ms. Anna Bossman of Ghana is now the Director of the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department (IACD) of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The former Deputy Commissioner and later Acting Commissioner of Ghana’s human rights and anti-corruption institution, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) was appointed to the position on July 18, 2011, the Media Relations office of the  AfDB told ghanausinessnews.com in an email correspondence Tuesday December 20, 2011.

Ms. Bossman who served Ghana impeccably as Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ since the year 2002 and was appointed Acting Commissioner on December 1, 2010 following the voluntary retirement of the then Commissioner Justice Emile Short, retired from that position on May 24, 2011 to take up her new role with the AfDB. But at that time the specific role she was to take up was not known.

Ms. Bossman, an anti-corruption advocate and activist started her legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General after she graduated from the Ghana Law School in 1980.

She has also worked in the energy sector, taking up various legal, managerial and consultancy services with multinational oil and gas companies in West and Central Africa, according to the Ghana News Agency.

The AfDB describes IACD as the centre piece of the Bank’s effort to improve the continent’s investment climate and reduce the risk of prohibited practices such as fraud and corruption in the Bank and Bank-financed projects.

The IACD which was established in November 2005, became operational in June 2006 and started investigations in January 2007, is designed to investigate allegations of prohibited practices such as fraud and corruption in Bank Group activities and related staff misconduct;

– Assist regional member countries to detect and deter fraud and corruption in Bank Group activities; and

– Create anti-corruption and fraud awareness among staff.

Asked about Ms. Bossman, Justice Short told ghanabusinessnews.com that having been involved in anti-corruption work at the CHRAJ, “she will bring her experience to bear on her work at the AfDB. I wish her well,” he said.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi