Ministers fail to declare assets

A corruption assessment report which is still being finalized by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), reveals that a large number of ministers, Members of Parliament, ambassadors, metropolitan/municipal/district chief executives civil service officials and key officers who are required by law to declare their assets and liabilities have not done so.

In the particular case of ministers, 57(78%) out of the 73 who were expected to declare their assets have not done so. Only six Presidential Staffers out of an unspecified number have complied with the law.

Sharing a view on the matter in an interview with Public Agenda, Mr. Vitus A. Azeem, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), said the defaulters “have gone against the law. They have also gone against the instruction of the President and one would expect the President to take action.”

In February 2009 (that is 22 months ago), President John Evans Atta Mills issued a fiat, asking all his appointees to declare their assets within seven days. Mahama Ayariga, then Presidential spokesperson, explained that the president believed that six months, which is the stipulated limit in the Public Office Holder Declaration of Assets and Disqualification Act, 1998 (Act 550), was a long time enough for people to do untoward things.

It is not yet known who the particular ministers who have disregarded both the President’s seven-day ultimatum and the six-month limit stipulated by Act 550 are. Attempts to reach the Minister of Information or his deputies for comment were fruitless.

The draft report, made available to participants at a one-day consultative meeting held to validate the findings last Friday, also indicates that, as of December 2009 only 127(55%) out of the 230 MPs had declared their assets in accordance with the law. Although the report is not limited to assets declaration, it adopted asset declaration as a case study, Bernard Asamoah Henebeng, Research Officer of GACC said while presenting highlights of the report to the participants.

The researchers selected thirty-five public institutions for the study based on statutory role, and the importance of their functions. The data collection was undertaken over a six-month period from July to December 2009.

Further revelations on asset declaration are that, only 18 (10.5%) of the 170 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) had complied with the law. In addition, eleven ambassadors out of an unspecified number have met the requirements of the law whereas only one past ambassador out of many had complied. Also, only a fraction of heads of department of ministries, civil servants, CHRAJ officers, past ministers, judicial service officials, Ghana Education Service officials, officers of revenue agencies, the Audit Service and security agencies have met the law’s demands. In the case of presiding members and secretaries of MMDAs, none at all had declared their assets and liabilities.

Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Anna Bossman, who chaired the validation workshop, said as things stand now, “all of these people should have declared their assets” adding that, the refusal of the officers to declare their assets “is against the law.”