OccupyGhana Broods Over Gov’t Reluctance In Forwarding Draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill
Pressure group OccupyGhana is convinced that the Akufo-Addo-led government is “unwilling or unprepared” to approve the Draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill 2022 for Parliament’s approval despite making it one of its campaign promises.
Their conviction follows the cabinet’s lukewarmness and reluctance towards the draft, which seeks to reinforce the already existing assets declaration regime in article 286(4) – which only provides that an asset declared to have been acquired while in public office, ‘which is not reasonably attributable to income, gift, loan, inheritance, or any other reasonable source shall be deemed to have been acquired in contravention of this Constitution.’
“This measure {the draft} is vital in curbing the trend where public officers acquire unexplained wealth, especially where their known economic means cannot justify such acquisitions or wealth,” it noted.
The Pressure group noted that it realized in May 2022 that the draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022 had been prepared by the Attorney-General and forwarded to Cabinet; however, it said there was “apparently considerable resistance or reluctance at Cabinet in approving for the Bill to be forwarded to Parliament for debate and enactment.”
It, therefore, concludes that “the Government appears inexplicably unwilling or unprepared to approve the Bill and transmit it to Parliament for enactment.”
“This is strikingly ironic because the passage of this Bill was a campaign promise on page 105 of the New Patriotic Party’s 2020 Manifesto, Table 1.13 on Governance, Corruption, and Public Accountability, items 235 and 236. Even the admitted IMF pressure does not appear to us to be having any effect.”
It also holds that until Ghanaians take a keen interest in the Bill, there will be no progress in its passage.
“We, therefore, invite Ghanaians, fellow Civil Society Organisations, and the media to join us in this campaign to ensure that Cabinet approves the Bill and forwards it to Parliament and that Parliament passes the Bill into law, all at the earliest times possible,” it added.
OccupyGhana’s concerns come after news that $1 million, €300,000, and millions of cedis have allegedly been stolen from the former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah at her Ablekuma residence by her two house helps.
