'Govt officials Must Declare Assets Annually'

The Danquah Institute has added its voice to calls for the policy on declaration of assets of public officials to be strengthened.

Asset declaration is a measure by which public officials (including members of the judiciary and the legislature) are required to periodically declare their personal income and wealth for scrutiny by a state authority.

The policy think tank is calling for amendments to the law — The Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualifications) Act 1998 (Act 550) — which will require all those public officials captured under the law and their spouses and dependent children to file assets disclosure report annually, instead of at the beginning of a new government’s four-year term and at the end of it — and for those records to be accessible to the public and public agencies for scrutiny and monitoring purposes.

This annual report should disclose the sources and amount of all income earned by the individuals concerned, including from stocks, cash savings, bonds and other instruments, property, any other investments or large debts, and gifts given to public officials beyond a certain minimum value, such as GH¢50 per any given month.

“These required annual disclosures must include the nature, source, and amount of income, gifts and reimbursements, assets and liabilities, and transactions in real property and securities. Those state officials must make similar disclosures regarding the finances of their spouses and dependent children,” suggests the institute’s head of research.

The Danquah Institute (DI) further proposes that this annual report, rather than being under the seemingly exclusive control of the Auditor-General, can then be given to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), which will study it and take appropriate action where necessary.

It believes CHRAJ is in a more independent position to do the regular monitoring of assets and income of covered public servants.

The institute adds that prime value of declarations is also to identify actual and potential conflicts of interest. This is an area where CHRAJ is already better mandated to make findings on.

The DI argues that making it compulsory for public holders to submit an annual report on their wealth would go a longer way in minimising the negative influence of corruption on Ghana's development efforts.

The principal goal of income and asset disclosure systems is to combat corruption yet, it is difficult to cite examples in Ghana of how information disclosed in asset declarations has led to the exposure of unjust enrichment. This failure undermines the weakness in the current system, the DI further argues.

“We believe full, comprehensive, annual disclosure is necessary to combat corruption and foster public confidence in government. It will also send a clearer message to foreign investors about Ghana’s commitment to tackle international corruption,” Head of Research for the policy think tank, Nana Attobrah, said.

The DI laments that although Ghana is a signatory to the Rabat Declaration of the 3rd Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service, Rabat, Morocco (Dec. 15, 1998), a lot more could have been done in the decade after Rabat to bring greater transparency into how the public system operates in Ghana.

While welcoming the ongoing legislative efforts to pass a Freedom of Information Bill, the Institute believes that there is a lot more that must be done in the fight against corruption.