Ghana’s asset declaration law, the joke of the century – Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition

Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Beauty Narteh, has described as “the joke of the century” Ghana’s asset declaration regime.

Her assertion is premised on the fact that the current asset regime does not provide room for asset verification, monitoring, and publication of public officials before, during, and after the cessation of their time in office.

Speaking during the NorvanReports and Economic Governance Platform’s X Space Discussion on the topic, “Corruption In Ghana: Impact on Everyday Lives and the Economy”, Ms Narteh quipped the asset declaration law is an important tool for fighting corruption in the country.

“The asset declaration law is one of the laws that is very dear to my heart because it is an important tool for fighting corruption. Because with the law we can document the indebtedness or wealth of public officials and have them updated every four years.

“However, our current asset declaration regime is one of the jokes of the century as it gives no opportunities for asset verification or monitoring and publication of same.

“And because of that most public officials are not compliant to the law,” she remarked.

Asset declaration is a multifunctional anti-corruption tool aimed at detecting the acquisition of illegal and unjust enrich­ment and for recovery of same to the state and building broader integrity of public service.

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,

(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.