The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has strongly criticized public officials who have failed to declare their assets, as mandated by law.
Speaking during an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Monday, May 5, she argued that tougher sanctions, including outright dismissals, should be imposed on those who disregard this legal requirement.
Addah’s comments come in the wake of the President’s recent action to hold public officials accountable for their failure to declare their assets.
She emphasized the discretionary power the President holds to ensure compliance, stating, “I think it should have been outright dismissals for most of them, because the President has the discretionary power to do so, but then it is within his mandate to also proffer others.”
She further underscored the importance of the swift deadline set for officials, saying, “Giving them less than 48 hours to ensure that it is done is very critical. And I think that going forward, people will take this seriously.”
The GII Executive Director also expressed disappointment that the assets had not been declared before officials assumed office.
“What we would have wanted to see is declaring the assets before the assumption of office,” she remarked.
“And so for me, allowing them to declare and they not doing so means they didn’t even recognise the Office of the President and the very specific orders he had made to them during the swearing in.”
Addah praised the President’s decision to launch the new code of conduct, seeing it as a crucial step toward maintaining integrity within public office.
She noted, “This action, taken during the launch of the new code of conduct, sends a strong message that the President means business.”
