Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Presidential Advisor has revealed why Ghana’s asset declaration is not transparent. He said the current system is opaque and he dislikes it but could not do anything about it when it was being added to the 1992 Constitution.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo was addressing a gathering at a forum on open government partnerships and construction sector transparency in Accra April 23, 2024. The former Senior Minister used the forum to chronicle the beginning of the opaque asset declaration system in Ghana.
He said during a consultative assembly to get inputs to draw the 1992 constitution, he championed publication of assets. But his suggestions were shot down because the chiefs were afraid that it could lead to them becoming targets for their relative who are envious of their properties.
“I happened to be at the Consultative Assembly when we were drawing up the Constitution of the republic when they put in this phrase [Asset declaration]. I was championing the publication of the assets, the chiefs were there in the right numbers. And they were so furious with me because they said ‘look, do you want people to kill us when they know what we have?’”
Yaw Osafo-Maafo said because of the fear of the traditional leaders owing the type of inheritance practiced in the country, implementing public declaration of assets is difficult to achieve.
“So because of our traditional system of inheritance where in the Akan world it is maternal inheritance; when I am dead, it is my brother first, after my brother my sisters. It is matrilineal, so if people know you have a lot of properties, they may kill you, so people are scared to openly let people know what they have.”
He said public officials are required by law to declare their assets but the reason why he dislikes the law is that it provides for confidentiality between the owner and the Auditor-General. As a result, it is difficult to validate what someone has declared.
“In Ghana when you become a minister of state, at all levels asset declaring is the first thing you do. You declare your asset and file same at the Auditor General. What I personally don’t like about this law is that after you declare the assets everything is kept confidential between the Auditor-General and yourself.
“Therefore, it becomes very difficult for anybody to challenge the authenticity of your declaration.
The former Senior Minister said there should be a level of transparency in the asset declaration so that people can verify what others have declared.
“I think that yes, let us declare the assets but there should be a certain level of transparency in the declaration of the assets so that people assess what you declare.”
