Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC)
Mrs Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), has urged President Nana Akuffo-Addo to ensure the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers’ bill before he leaves office.
She said the President through the Attorney General Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame at the COP Conference in Dubai last year promised the citizens of Ghana that he would ensure the passage of the bill.
Mrs. Narteh, who made the request in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on corruption related issues, said the bill had taken a longer period than required to move from the executive arm of government to the legislature.
She said passing the anti-graft bill into law would significantly improve the fight against corruption among public officials.
The Executive Secretary said the bill had all the elements needed to tackle corruption among public officials.
“The importance of the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers bill cannot be overemphasised. It has three key elements which support the process of transparency and accountability. The first elements pertain to asset declaration, which provides Ghana the opportunity to have a robust asset declaration regime. It also has the issue of conflict of interest which is not properly clear in terms of our laws.
“We have the constitution which provides guidance on what constitutes conflict of interest but we need to have it properly regulated in terms of how it should be done so that it helps state institutions to know when they are in the situation of a conflict of interests. Finally, it also helps to know how we can manage gift among public office holders. When you look at gift, it becomes an inducement when we talk about corruption,” she said.
According to the memorandum of the bill, the purpose of the bill is to give effect to chapter 24 of the 1992 constitution, domesticate the United Nations Convention against corruption.
The Executive Secretary commended the government for the passage of other antigraft bills, notably the Right to Information Act.
She however asked state institutions to have a proactive disclosure policy to provide information to the citizens before they ask.