The Co-Chair of Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu, has urged the seat of government, Jubilee House to prioritise transmitting the Public Officers Conduct to Parliament for consideration.
He stated that a lot of work has been done by the Attorney-General’s department together with stakeholders. It is now left to the presidency to transmit the bill to parliament for deliberations and possibly, getting it passed.
But, he observed that the will to get it sent to the House appears missing.
Edem Senanau was speaking on the Ghana Tonight show in relation to the concerns raised by Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo against the current asset declaration regime.
Senanu said “There appears to be a lack of political will. The code of conduct (Conduct of Public Officers bill) is something we have reminded the presidency that we are all aware that the AG department together with stakeholders, has done quite substantive work, we thought the stage it has reached we should move to parliament for them to have their deliberations, publish it and then we enact the law but for some reason, nobody seems interested in moving it from the presidency to parliament.”
Asset Declaration: There appears to be a lack of political will. – Edem Senanu, Co-Chair, Citizens Movement Against Corruption#GhanaTonight pic.twitter.com/mYOwMWnQ7m
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) April 24, 2024
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Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo had observed that the current asset declaration regime in Ghana is not transparent.
Under the current regime, he explained, the declared assets remain confidential between the Auditor General and the officers declaring the assets.
This, in his view, makes it difficult for one to challenge the declaration that has been done.
Addressing a forum on open government partnerships and construction sector transparency in Accra, on Tuesday, April 23, he said “In Ghana when you become a minister of state, at all levels, asset declaring is the first thing you do, you declare your asset and file same at the Auditor General. What I personally don’t like about this law is that after you declare the assets everything is kept confidential between the Auditor General and yourself.
“Therefore it becomes very difficult for anybody to challenge the authenticity of your declaration.
“I think that yes, let us declare the assets but there should be a certain level of transparency in the declaration of the assets so that people assess what you declare.”
Asset declaration is a multifunctional anti-corruption tool aimed at detecting the acquisition of illegal and unjust enrichment and for recovery of same to the state and building broader integrity of public service.
The Public Office Holders Declaration of Assets and Disqualification ACT 1998 (Act 550) has been in existence for a very long time and has always been a feature of Ghana’s constitutional and legal framework since the 1969 Constitution down to the 1992 Constitution.
Article 286 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states that: “A person who holds a public office mentioned in clause (5) of this Article shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly