IMANI Africa’s Kofi Bentil says individuals who are not ready to declare their assets publicly should not take up public service roles.
According to him, the reluctance of public officers to declare their assets and the failure of the supervising state institutions to hold such persons to account has contributed to the growing corruption with impunity.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, he stated that public servants must understand that they lose some amount of their right to privacy after assuming their high offices.
“Please, if you go into public office, declare. The declaration must be a proper declaration, there must be transparency to it. It must be made public and everybody must know. If you don’t want that don’t go into public office,” he said.
He noted that the delay in the passage of relevant laws to ensure that government appointees and politicians are compelled to declare their assets proves just how far reaching corruption is in the country.
Mr. Bentil praised pressure group Occupy Ghana for constantly putting pressure on the government to pass the Conduct of Public officers bill into a law.
He assured that IMANI-Africa would also join the cause and go any length to ensure that the bill is passed into law.
Mr Bentil said the upcoming election has provided a perfect opportunity for IMANI – Africa to raise this issue before the politicians since they would be campaigning against corruption.