The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, has urged the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, to reconsider his position on the publication of assets declared by public office holders.
Speaking on Accra-based TV3 on Saturday, June, Mr Dafeamekpor insisted that the publication of assets is a necessary step towards transparency and is supported by Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution.
“So, I think Kissi got it absolutely wrong. Being the Special Prosecutor, he should be the first advocate, the first disciple for publication. So, he is wrong,” Mr Dafeamekpor stated.
His remarks were in direct response to the Special Prosecutor’s position at a high-level conference on Ghana’s anti-corruption framework, where he argued against publishing the assets of public office holders, saying it could expose them to unnecessary public attention and possible attacks.
“I do not and I will not add my voice to calls for the publication of asset for public scrutiny. In our experience, it will be unhelpful and would nearly subject public officers to inordinate public curiosity and a spectre of the real likelihood of reprisal attacks against their asset,” the Special Prosecutor said.
However, Mr Dafeamekpor challenged this, saying the Constitution’s language clearly points to public accountability.
“How can the Constitution provide for the declaration of assets and deny us from seeing the nature of those assets?” he asked.
He further explained that Article 286 demands openness. “By the sheer nature of the language, when you declare, you are opening it up publicly; that is why it is called declaration. So, you can’t declare and put it in a closet,” he added.
Mr Dafeamekpor also pointed out that Parliament has a responsibility to provide legal backing for the asset declaration process, admitting that more should have been done over the years.
“That is why Parliament has been blamed for not coming out with legislation to give flesh to this,” he said. However, he assured that work is ongoing to address the gap. “We have designed a Private Members’ Bill, but government says hold on, we are sponsoring a larger bill for this. It is not only about assets, it is about liabilities.”
“One of the cardinal principles of reading a constitution is to read it as a whole… The principle of the 1992 Constitution is about accountability and transparency. We may be having difficulties with implementation, but you must be accountable to the people,” he said.
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