Enforce Asset Disclosure Act to minimise corruption

Accra, July 03, GNA-Speakers at a workshop on Transparency and Accountability, on Tuesday, called for the enforcement of the Assets Declaration Act, to mandate all public officers to publicly disclose their assets.

They identified weakness in the administration of the country's assets declaration regime and lack of sanctions for those who failed to do so, as major setback to the fight against corruption.

Speaking on the "Importance and Role of Assets Declaration Law in Ghana: Challenges in Implementation", Mr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, Governance and Legal Policy Research Officer of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) said compliance with the obligation has been weak from the military coup era to date.

He said the sensitivity attached to the nature of assets declaration had made it difficult to achieve effectiveness, as most public officers refused to oblige to the directive.

Describing the directive as "a taboo subject" to some, Mr Asante explained that some public officers claimed that declaring their assets would mean publicly inviting thieves to attack them.

He mentioned lack of awareness of provisions of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act 550, unavailability of the filing forms, and lack of coordination with institutions under which declarants were employed as some challenges. Mr. Asante said there was therefore the need to make the declarations more accessible to the public, and to empower the Auditor-General who is the custodian of asset declaration forms to verify and regularly publish names of those who declared.

He said what constitute a gift for a public officer should also be clearly spelt out in the Act, adding that, declaring assets of spouses and dependent children of such officers must also be considered. Mr. Asante also called for a legislative instrument that would empower the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to apply stringent sanctions for officers who failed to do so. Touching on the Effective Implementation of the Assets Disclosure Regime in Ghana, Professor Ken Attafuah, Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, said the performance of the constitutional and statutory bodies charged with the responsibility of monitoring and investigating disclosures must be seriously questioned. He said inculcating integrity values into public officers through the development of an integrity-centred core curriculum would help ensure accountability.

Prof. Attafuah said there was also the need to closely monitor the activities of such officials, through a system of random checks on accuracy of disclosures.

He also called for timely and effective prosecution for those who made false declarations and forfeiture of undeclared property to the state, when necessary.

Ms. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Acting Executive Secretary, Ghana Initiative Integrity (GII) said the workshop aimed at strengthening the Assets Declaration Law in Ghana, became necessary when GII's survey revealed that Ghanaian, including public officials were ignorant on the importance of the Act.

She noted that GII sees effective asset declaration regime as an effective anti-corruption tool to deter abuse of power, protect public assets and interest, and promote integrity.

She said Government must therefore expedite the passage of the Information Bill to facilitate public access to information on activities of public officers and how they use the Government purse. Ms Ofori-Kwafo said Government must also adopt and implement with dispatch the conflict of interest guidelines for public officials developed by CHRAJ and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition.

"A strong code of conduct for public servants as well as political appointees, especially those in position to hire, fire, and influence resource allocation was needed as a matter of urgency", the Executive Secretary added.

Mr. Ted Lawrence, Democracy and Governance Officer, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said fighting corruption and controlling ethnical conduct in the public service was a priority to achieve economic progress.

He said without strong advocacy it was difficult for such critical reforms like the revision of the asset disclosure law to move forward and urged civil society and the media to play their watchdog role to ensure that public officers remained accountable to society. Members of Parliament, legal brains and representatives from agencies responsible for the monitoring and investigation of public officers attended the workshop organised jointly by the GII, CDD-Ghana, USAID and the Audit Service. 03 July 07