Former Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has raised concerns about the enforcement of the Asset Declaration Act among public officials in Ghana.
He blamed the inability to enforce this act on the lack of leadership and commitment to holding individuals who fail to comply with the act accountable.
The Public Office Holder (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998 (550) requires all public office holders to declare their assets and liabilities before assuming office. Failure to do this will require that the office holder is investigated and sanctioned accordingly.
Over the years some public officeholders have been accused of not complying with this act.
Speaking on the issue, Daniel Domelevo pointed out that the problem lies with leadership, particularly in taking decisive actions to enforce asset declaration regulations.
“The truth of the matter is that why the current asset declaration is so defective, is because of leadership,” he stated.
He stressed that a lack of leadership has hindered these critical steps from being taken.
“Assuming the president after a or two months after his own declaration decided to sack all the ministers who didn’t declare, do you think we will still have the high level of non-compliance as of today?
“Assuming that the judges who did not declare their assets and the petition went to them. If the the president, set up a committee and referred it to the Chief Justice as required by the law for them to be investigated under Article 146, for possible removal, I don’t think people would have relaxed as it is not, but leadership is not there,” he noted.
He suggested that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, should have taken decisive actions, such as removing non-compliant officials from office to uphold the law and the constitution.
“Honestly speaking, the president and his vice when I was in office declared within two weeks which to me was contrary to the constitution but in line with Act 550. Bring it as it may, why will the president and the vice president declare within two weeks and years down the line that the ministers and his other appointees have not declared? So, they are occupying offices unlawfully or unconstitutionally.
“The president should have wiped all of them off and said to them, my friends, you don’t respect the law of this country, leave office. That will have brought seriousness to this asset declaration regime,” he added.
Source: ghanaweb.com
