The Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo, has clarified that there is no existing law in Ghana that supports the practice of enclosing the asset declaration forms filled by public office holders.
According to him, the secrecy of the forms has been a practice in the country over the years; a practice that is not backed by any Legislative Instrument.
There have been claims that portions of the law on asset declaration that requires public office holders to declare their assets prior to occupying public office and also when leaving office should be kept secret until a court of competent jurisdiction has ordered that the form should be opened.
But speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra 100.5FM, on Thursday August 17, Mr Domelovo said: “Today, as we speak, there is no law that supports the practice of enclosing the asset declaration form filed by public office holders.
“It has been the practice over the years that the asset forms be kept secret from anybody apart from the person who filed the form, not until a court instructs that others person can read it.
“This practice has not been helpful and so with the help of the Attorney General and other key stakeholders, I am taking the steps to correct it.”
He added: “If we are serious about the asset declaration regime then we need to move away from the practice of keeping the forms secret. How do we actually scrutinise the assets of public office holders if we don’t know what has been penned down on their forms? It doesn’t work out that way and so we need the support of all at this moment to change this.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
