Politics

CSO wants assets declaration regime strengthened, enforced

The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has called for the strengthening and enforcement of the asset declaration regime in the country to help cut the rates of public officeholders unlawfully enriching themselves using the offices they occupy.

It said the law must be strengthened and enforced to the latter to compel people to declare their assets before going into public service against the current oversight plaguing the public service of the country.

“We need to strengthen and enforce the asset declaration regime we have in our country because the current law does not serve any purpose since we cannot see the declarations of public officeholders even after four years of the declaration,” the Alliance queried.

Mensah Thompson, Executive Director of ASEPA, was worried about the bleakness of strengthening and enforcing the law which made it difficult to know how public officeholders were enriching and strengthening it or not by themselves in public office which defeated the purpose of the Asset Declaration law to ensure that the officeholders did not use their office to enrich themselves.

He maintained that the law was not serving the purpose, and needed to reform the law and make it stronger and more transparent enough to serve the purpose adding that “the Declaration of Assets and Disqualification Act 1995 is an act enacted to provide for the declaration of assets and liabilities by public office holders in conformity with Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution.

“It provides for disqualification from holding specified public offices as a result of adverse finding made or criminal conviction against individuals and to provide for related purposes,” Mr Thompson indicated.

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has also recently commenced investigations into more than 400 public officials who have failed to declare their assets, and nothing is yet said about the progress of that investigation.

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