Five citizens have petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for action to be taken against all public officers who have failed to declare their assets.
Article 286 of the Constitution and Section 1 of Act 550 mandates public officers to submit a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by them, directly or indirectly, to the Auditor-General, (i) before taking office, (ii) at the end of every four years, and (iii) at the end of their term of office.
But, an Audit Service report in May 2022 has revealed that 28 ministers and deputy ministers of state who served or are still serving in the Akufo-Addo administration did not declare their assets at all.
The information also revealed that the president and 19 of his ministers who have served since 2017 have fully complied with the asset declaration law and have declared at least three times.
The citizens, Nicholas Opoku, Lolan Sagoe-Moses, Crystal Selorm Amudzi, Francis Boye, and Elias Ashkur, therefore, want CHRAJ to probe the failures of these officers.
They also want to know whether the failure of the above-mentioned public officials to declare their assets amounts to a breach of the oaths of office, they swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” as mandated by Article 286 (7) and the Second Schedule of the Constitution.
Most importantly, the petitioners in their letter want appropriate actions taken against the defaulting public officers pursuant to CHRAJ’s mandate in Article 287 of the Constitution.
Below is the full petition: