Former Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelovo has raised doubts about the efficiency of Ghana’s current Assets Declaration Law.
During an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile program on Saturday, he expressed his opinion that the existing law is ineffective and lacks suitability for its intended purpose.
He further emphasised the necessity for enhancements to the Assets Declaration Bill that is currently under consideration in Parliament.
“We have to take seriously the Assets and Liabilities declarations by office holders in the country. You and I agree that the law as it stands at the moment is a joke,” he told Samson Lardy Anyenini.
He explained that if the law were effective, it would have helped hasten investigations into the alleged “stolen money case” of the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
“If the declaration was properly done and verified, I think some of the claims date as far back as 2003 or 2005—that was when she was in the previous NPP administration—so we could have gone there to see whether those things were declared, properly verified and existed, and it would have helped the investigation and also been published.”
Mr. Domelevo’s remarks follow the recent court documents filed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), which have revealed that a bank account belonging to the deceased brother of a former Sanitation Minister has been actively transferring funds to the former Minister.
Exclusive copies of these documents, obtained by JoyNews and submitted to the court by the OSP, also suggest that the former Minister holds millions of cedis, the origins of which the OSP alleges she could not substantiate.
This development represents the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s ongoing efforts to ascertain the seizure of properties suspected to be ill-gotten by Madam Dapaah.
In response to this situation, the former Auditor General cautioned against hasty judgements that might lead to contempt of court. He additionally called for the implementation of a lifestyle audit.
This, according to him, will serve as a preemptive measure to check and hold public officers accountable “when we think their lifestyle is not in sync with their resources.”
He added that it can help limit the extent to which public holders can abuse public funds.