Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior Adviser to the President, recalled how some traditional authorities were furious with him for championing the idea of asset disclosure during the National Consultative Conference for the Drafting of the 1992 Constitution.
He expressed concern that chiefs could be killed by their relatives if they found out about the properties they owned, and said he therefore rejected the idea of publishing a list of properties as part of the asset declaration system. Ta.
Speaking at the Forum on Open Government Partnerships and Transparency in the Construction Sector in Accra on Tuesday, April 23, he said: [Asset declaration]. I was in favor of releasing the assets and the chiefs were present in reasonable numbers and they were very angry with me.
“So, in the Akan world, because of the traditional inheritance system, which is maternal inheritance, if I die, my brother will inherit first, then my brother. People are afraid to openly tell people what they have because if people find out they have it, they might be killed.”
Mr Osafo-Maafo said the current asset declaration system was not transparent, making it difficult to challenge declarations already made.
The publication of the load shedding schedule can only be done by the Minister of Energy – Osafo Maafo.
He explained that under the current system, declared assets are kept confidential between the Office of the Auditor General and the official who declares the assets.
He said, “In Ghana, when you become a Minister of State, the first thing you do at every level is asset declaration, you declare your assets and declare them to the Auditor General. After that, everything will be kept confidential between you and the Auditor General.
“Therefore, it will be very difficult for anyone to challenge the authenticity of your declaration.
“Yes, let’s declare assets, but there needs to be a level of transparency in declaring assets so people can evaluate what is being declared.”
Asset declaration is a multifunctional anti-corruption tool aimed at detecting illegal and illicit acquisition of wealth, recovering it from the state, and building broader health of public services.
The Declaration of Assets and Disqualifications of Public Officers Act 1998 (Act 550) has been in existence for a very long time and has always been a feature of Ghana’s constitutional and legal framework, from the 1969 Constitution to the 1992 Constitution. It has become.
Article 286, Section 1 of the 1992 Constitution provides as follows: “A person holding a public office as referred to in paragraph 5 of this article shall submit to the Board of Auditors a written declaration of all assets or debts owned by him.”