Kwaku Kwarteng: Don’t limit asset declaration to politicians

Kwaku Kwarteng, the chairman of the finance committee of Parliament has said asset declaration should not be limited to politicians alone if the government wants to fight corruption in Ghana.

He alleged that individuals in the private sector are the real beneficiaries of underhand dealings in the country.

“Asset declaration should not just be for people in the public sector,” the Obuasi West MP said on Townhall Talk on Asaase 99.5 Accra on Friday (24 June). “Asset declaration must be done by anybody whose wealth or whose income exceeds a certain threshold we can define.”

“If you ask asset declaration on a public officer who may have come to the deal with government finances and you say as for the private man it’s ok, they can get away with it… the real beneficiaries of corruption are private people.”

Review asset declarations laws

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for urgent reconsideration of the constitutional provisions on asset declarations made by public office holders to the Auditor-General (A-G) to make the fight against corruption meaningful.

He said an amendment of Article 286 of the Constitution would allow the A-G to thoroughly peruse the written declarations on assets, property, gifts, among others, which public office holders submitted to him for safe keeping under lock.

Such perusal, he said, would help to expose those who failed to declare or knowingly make false declarations as well as expose those who engaged in money laundering and improperly acquire assets over a period of time.

“The A-G perusing these documents, which are submitted to be kept under lock, will help in determining if there are any contradictions, suspicions or improprieties that are established by the A-G and they could be ferried to the Special Prosecutor for further investigations and prosecution,” he said.

Prosecutors must bite

Contributing to a debate ahead of the approval of  Kissi Agyebeng as the Special Prosecutor in Parliament, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said: “I believe that time has come for us to take a second look at Article 286 to expand the frontiers for investigations and pursuing criminals other than that we will make people, who are charged with the responsibility, to be reduced to toothless bulldogs who can only bark but will not be able to bite.”

The approval of Agyebeng came after the Appointments Committee submitted its ninth report on the President’s nomination of Mr Agyebeng for appointment as SP.

The Majority Chief Whip,  Frank Annoh-Dompreh, presented the committee’s report on behalf of the chairman of the committee and moved a motion for the approval of the nominee.

Asset declarations

The Majority Leader said the SP was supposed to work in close collaboration with the Auditor-General in pursuing criminals, especially those who engaged in money laundering, corruption and invested in assets.

He quoted Article 286 (2), which provides that: “A person who holds a public office shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by him whether directly or indirectly. Failure to declare or knowingly making false declaration shall be a contravention of this Constitution and shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 287 of this Constitution.”

He said if such declarations were made, the A-G should not place those written declarations in a safe under lock without authenticating such contents.

“Mr Speaker, how is anybody to know that a person has failed to declare or knowingly made false declarations in respect of his asset, if the AG is not allowed to look at his declarations?” he asked.