The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) says it will significantly improve Ghana’s record on organised crime by 2027.
Ghana’s 2021 record on the Organised Crime Index was 6.01 on the Criminality Score and 5.38 on the Resilience Score.
The Office said it was bent on tackling the drivers and enablers of organised crime and reducing the opportunities for their operation in the country.
This will be done through monitoring, detecting, preventing, investigating, and prosecuting economic and organised crimes.
This is contained in EOCO’s recently launched five-year strategic plan with four priority areas spanning 2023 to 2028.
Under the second priority area, the Office would deny criminals the enjoyment of the proceeds of crime.
It seeks to accomplish this through asset tracing, asset seizure and recovery, and asset management.
The Office also intends to recover and effectively manage proceeds of crime worth GH¢350 million by June 2028.
Under the third priority area, EOCO would strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones with local and international partners to combat organised crime, by December 2025.
The fourth priority area seeks to develop EOCO as a financially sustainable organisation through organisational development and best corporate governance practices by December 2024.
The situational analysis, organisational review and diagnostic assessment that informed EOCO’s Strategic Plan showed that organised crime was increasingly getting sophisticated, requiring investigative and law enforcement agencies to build their capacity to be able to stay ahead.
The review said EOCO was doing well, but could increase visibility and impact.