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01.09.2002 General News

Code of Conduct for Ministers

By Evening News
Code of Conduct for Ministers
01.09.2002 LISTEN

...Unruly Ministers To Be Disciplined A draft code to regulate the conduct of Ministers and government officials has been submitted to the President for approval. The code, prepared by the Office of the Attorney-General is expected to be ready before the end of September. The Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, disclosed this to “The Evening News” in an interview in Accra. He said the code has spelt out various forms of punishment to be meted out to Ministers and government functionaries who misbehave or contravene the rules and regulations of their establishment. He said the President is very serious in ensuring that his Ministers and appointees do not go astray and would not hesitate to apply the sanctions if any of them violate the code. On why severe punitive measures were attached to the code, Mr Mpiani noted that it would have been a useless and ineffective code if that had not been done. He said it is to ensure that the Ministers do not see the code as a mere booklet but something the President is really serious with. He said the code would be operational as soon as the President gives his assent. On the national accountability office also to be set up under the office of the President, the Chief of Staff said his office was preparing to bring it into fruition. He said what is making it difficult is the task of finding very credible people to handle the place. He said as an accountability office, people who would work at the place should be people who would be seen as clean by the society and did not necessarily belong to any political grouping. He said if government officials are put in that office, the public would doubt whether they would have the will to take any action against their colleagues who would appear before them. He said “Though government or party faithfuls may be very competent in that area there would always be doubt if the political will would be there”. Mr Mpiani said most of the people being contacted for the job are also shying away because they want to be out of the limelight. Mr Mpiani gave the assurance that everything would be done to ensure that the accountability office was set up.

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