President Mahama declares assets

President John Dramani Mahama has in compliance with Act 550 of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act 1998 has officially declared his assets.
The Act is in line with Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution.
Act 550 states that “A person who holds a public office shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all properties or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by him, whether directly or indirectly, before taking office at the end of every four years; and at the end of his term of office.”
President Mahama made the declaration when he submitted a declaration of all his assets and properties in writing to Mr Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, the Auditor-General at the seat of Government in Accra.
The move by the President is part of his commitment to promoting transparency and accountability in his leadership, a key theme in his 2024 campaign.
President Mahama after the declaration of his assets, also instructed all his appointees to do same by March 31, 2025, or face consequences, including removal from office.
The President said a look at the Statutes on Assets Declaration and Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution, named the President, the Vice-President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament and Judges.
He said under Act 550, Public Office Holders Declaration of Assets, all Public Officers, including those in the Civil Service, Public Corporations and Statutory Boards, Chief Executives of all Public Corporations, District Chief Executives and then Members of the Council of State.
He said there were many people in public office who do not know that they were covered under this Assets Declaration Regime.
He reiterated that there must be a reminder to all those people that they were covered under the Assets Declaration Regime.
“And so, I have presented mine this morning…”I’ve just performed a simple but brief, very important act of presenting my completed Assets Declaration forms to the Auditor General as required by Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Officers, Public Office Holders Declaration of Assets and Disqualifications Act 1998, Act 550.”
President Mahama said Ghana’s Assets Declaration Regime and its related activities had often been shrouded in secrecy and only unless in special circumstances, compliance was often difficult to measure.
He noted that in times past, he would privately have presented the forms to the Auditor-General in fulfillment of his statutory obligation.
“I’ve taken this step of presenting these forms publicly as a way of injecting some openness and transparency into the process of Assets Declaration,” the President stated.
“I’ve always maintained that while it is all well and good to punish corruption, a more effective way of addressing the canker is preventing it from occurring in the first place.
“I honestly believe that if properly curated and enforced, the Assets Declaration process can become a sustainable tool for tackling corruption.”
President Mahama said corruption by nature was insidious and thrives under the cover of darkness.
He noted that the more light that was shown on it, the more likely that it would be fought successfully.
He said he had also taken the step to send an unmistakable signal to all public office holders, especially those that he had appointed, that he takes the Declaration of Assets very seriously and expects full compliance from them.
“I’ve asked the Chief of Staff to send word to all appointees to ensure that they declare their assets by the end of the first quarter of this year, that is by 31st March 2025,” President Mahama said.
“I wish to stress that any appointee failing to meet this deadline would face severe sanctions, not excluding removal from office”
President Mahama said even as they strived to hold past government officials accountable for their stewardship, he deemed it even more imperative to enforce anti-corruption among the present public office holders; declaring that “Charity, they say, begins at home”.
The President said he was therefore determined to take the necessary steps to ensure that they fought corruption vigorously, so that the precious little resources that had been entrusted to them by the Ghanaian people were used only in their interest.
He said that there had been issues raised about the effectiveness of the current Assets Declaration regime, which they must take advantage of the current Constitution Review process to strengthen the Assets Declaration regime to make it more relevant to changing times.
He proposed that a shift to a regime where the assets so declared could be published before and after public office so that the phenomenon of unexplained and overnight wealth, obviously and through the proceeds of corruption, could be checked.
He called for a healthy debate over the issue and consensus built on the way forward so that collectively, Ghanaians could defeat the canker of corruption.
GNA