GII questions government’s commitment towards passage of conduct of public officers bill

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has questioned government’s committment to ensuring the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers Bill.

It follows a comment by President Akufo-Addo who while touting his credentials in fighting corruption mentioned that the Attorney General is finalizing work on the Bill to be presented to Cabinet.

“When passed into law, the Conduct of Public Officers Act will follow the example of legislations in other jurisdictions like the United States Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Public Officers Ethics Act of Kenya of 2003, and the U.K. Constitutional and Governance Act of 2010, in addressing issues regarding financial portfolios held by public officers before assuming public office, links to family business, improper enrichment, care of public property, professional practices, property, investments/shareholdings and other assets, self-dealing, partiality in the performance of duties, use of public or confidential information to further private interest, amongst others,” he said.

The President made this known on Monday, 11th September 2023, when he delivered a speech at the 2023 Bar Conference of the Ghana Bar Association, in Cape Coast, in the Central Region.

But the Executive Director of GII, Mary Adda in an interview with Starr News said government has not demonstrated enough commitment to getting the Bill passed to scrutinize the conduct of public officers.

“The Bill went through all the deliberations. However, when it went to Parliament during the second reading or so, Parliament rose without passing it. So, if this is a priority of government, it didn’t show in the last parliament. However, in this current government, 2021 onwards, this bill which seeks to criminalize conflict of interest and ensure that the conduct of public officers is within a certain remit has not been dealt with as it should. The current regime is not the best and I can also say that during the last parliament what went to parliament is not the best.”