OccupyGhana writes to AG, requesting status of Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022
The request was informed by recent allegations of conflict of interest leveled against some government officials.
Pressure group, OccupyGhana has through an RTI request, written to the office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, demanding updates on the draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022.
The request was informed by recent allegations of conflict of interest leveled against some government officials.
The group noted that even though the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has produced the 2006 Guidelines on Conflict of Interest, those Guidelines do not have the force of law, and do not appear to apply until a report is made to CHRAJ for investigations.
“After almost 30 years of the coming into force of this Constitution, we finally have a Draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022, which attempts to set down the specific instances that would be caught under the general prohibition. However, this Bill remains a draft and, to the best of our information, it is yet to obtain Cabinet Approval before it is submitted to Parliament for debate, possible amendments, and enactment,” it said.
They maintain that had the bill been passed into law, it would have informed debates surrounding conflict of interest involving public officers.
Furthermore, they noted that Cabinet is not treating the Bill with the urgency that ‘Ghanaians deserve’ since they had already made calls in May for the quick passage of the Bill into law before Parliament took its long recess.
“We do not want to believe that Cabinet is either reluctant to approve this Bill or pussyfooting around it. What we are certain of is that Cabinet is not treating the Bill with the urgency that Ghanaians deserve.”
The draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022 proposes, among others, the removal of the unconstitutional extension of time given to public officers to declare assets and liabilities.
The bill's purpose is to give effect to Chapter 24, articles 284 to 288 of the 1992 Constitution by providing for the conduct of public officers in the performance of functions, as well as domesticate the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
