2022 Conduct of Public Officers Bill: Occupy Ghana demands speedy approval, passage into law
The draft bill proposes to remove among others, the unconstitutional extension of time given to public officers to declare assets and liabilities.
Pressure group, Occupy Ghana has called on the President of the Republic to summon an emergency meeting for the sole purpose of approving the draft bill of the 2022 Conduct of Public officers.
They have also called on the Attorney General and Parliament to give a clear timeline for the submission of the bill and the latter’s passage into law before it rises for its long vacation.
“We believe that we speak for the vast majority of Ghanaians when we demand that:
(1)the President summons an emergency cabinet meeting for the sole purpose of approving the draft Bill;”
(2)the Attorney-General provides a clear timeline on when he will submit the Bill to Parliament;
(3)Parliament ensures that it passes the bill into law before it rises for the long vacation."
The draft bill proposes to remove among others, the unconstitutional extension of time given to public officers to declare assets and liabilities.
In a press statement, Occupy Ghana notes that the current scenario of an inexplicable acquisition of assets by public officers is a result of the Nation’s current asset declaration regime attributable to the passage in 1998 of Act 550 that allows the declaration to be done up to 6 months after taking office.
It further indicates that the above has led to a situation whereby “or more than two decades, once people assume public office without first declaring assets and liabilities, they either do not declare at all or sometimes engage in “assumptive declarations” by declaring what they do not have, in the expectation that they might, while in office, acquire the assets or make sham payments in purported satisfaction of sham debts declared.”
Additionally, OccupyGhana notes that after two years of campaigning on the issue, they wrote to the Attorney General ” and demanded the repeal of the unconstitutional extension. On 8 January 2020, the Attorney-General wrote to communicate agreement with our position, promising to start work on the repeal. Our reminders on 16 July and 24 September 2021 however went unheeded. On 21 October 2021, we wrote to the Special Prosecutor, inviting him to join our campaign on this matter. He responded to communicate his agreement with our position and the repeal demanded too.”
As a result of the above, the pressure group indicates that as it mulled over a court action, it received the draft bill showing that the AG is seeking to incorporate its concern thus calling on the President, the Attorney General, and Parliament to ensure that the bill is passed into law.
