The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has criticized public officials who failed to declare their assets, stating that President John Dramani Mahama should have sacked all defaulters.
This follows President Mahama’s directive for all government appointees to declare their assets by March 31, 2025.
Those who failed to comply were ordered to forfeit three months’ salary, which must be donated to the Ghana Medical Trust Fund.
The President has also warned that any appointee who fails to comply by Wednesday, May 7 will be dismissed.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Ms. Addah said the President should have acted more decisively.
She questioned why any appointee would ignore a public and lawful directive from the President.
Ms. Addah stressed that asset declaration should not be difficult, as it simply requires officials to account for their assets and liabilities.
She said, “I said for us, he should have sacked all of them. And that is to show that he will not tolerate such behavior in the future. But then we can see that the less than 48 hours deadline is also a good sign. But then we don’t understand why anybody would receive an order that is given publicly by the President on record for every Ghanaian to hear, would decide that they will not comply. It means that we need to pay attention because the President is the ultimate power of state. And he gives directives and his appointees decide that they will not take them, it beats the imagination that anybody would do that.”
“We say so because you should know what you have and what you do not have. Asset declaration is your assets and your liability. If I have a loan in a bank, I should know how much it is. If I have a house, I know how much, where it is. If I have jewelry, which is very expensive that I’m supposed to declare, I know where it is. So it’s just for me to put it together. And then share with the Auditor General who will go through it and see if the form is wonderful. If there are issues, they help you to correct them. So it beats the imagination that anyone would decide that they will not comply. And for us, that’s why we believe that the President’s discretionary powers should have been used to crack the whip even more loudly for everybody to hear.”
She added that the President should have used his discretionary powers more forcefully to set a precedent, saying, “The signal is that the President doesn’t have power to do anything.”
