Ghana’s asset declaration regime, joke of the Century – Anti-Corruption Coalition

Ghana’s current system for public officials to declare their assets is ineffective due to a lack of verification, monitoring, and publication, according to the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition.
Executive Secretary, Beauty Narteh, described the regime as ‘the joke of the century’ during a recent discussion on corruption’s impact on the country.

While acknowledging the law’s importance in fighting corruption, she criticized its weaknesses.

Narteh pointed out that the law mandates declarations every four years but lacks measures to verify or monitor the accuracy of the submitted information.

Additionally, the declarations are not made public, which hinders transparency and accountability.

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition executive secretary believes these shortcomings contribute to low compliance among public officials.

While Ghana has established anti-corruption laws, Narteh emphasized the need to address their loopholes for them to be truly effective.

Asset declaration is a crucial tool in detecting illegal enrichment and promoting integrity in public service. However, Ghana’s current system appears to be falling short of its intended purpose.

The Public Office Holders Decla­ration of Assets and Disqualification ACT 1998 (Act 550) has been in existence for a very long time and has always been a feature of the country’s consti­tutional and legal framework since the 1969 Constitution down to the 1992 Constitution.

Article 286 (1) of the 1992 Con­stitution states that: “A person who holds a public office mentioned in clause (5) of this Article shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly

(a) Within three months after the coming into force of this Constitu­tion or before taking office, as the case may be,

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(b) At the end of every four years; and

(c) At the end of his term of office.”

An asset declaration law is one of the most effective compliance mechanisms adopted by nations to detect illegal acquisition and unjust enrichment among public officials. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been empowered by the 1992 Constitution to conduct investigations in non-compliance with chapter 24 of the Constitu­tion including assets declaration and take action deemed appropri­ate.

However, the Constitution has not stipulated specific sanctions that ought to be met­ed out to public officers who fail and refuse to declare their assets and liabilities.