The Auditor-General's department is to institute new measures to ensure that assets acquired by public office holders can be attributed to income, gifts, loans, inheritance or other reasonable sources. In a move expected to hike the anti-corruption in the country, the department will, henceforth include asset declaration forms in the appointment letters of all public office holders under the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act. The Acting Auditor-General, Mr Richard Quartey, who disclosed this in Accra, said the decision was reached after consultations with the Public Services Commission, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service and other stakeholders. He explained that the move was to ensure that all property and assets acquired by public office holders specified in Schedule 1 of Act 550 were acquired legally. He was speaking at the opening of a four-day training workshop for Audit Service staff within the Greater Accra Region. Mr Quartey stated that the implementation of the assets declaration regime was being hampered by low compliance, while very few public office holders who were required under the law to declare their assets actually knew of their obligation. He said in order to address those challenges, The Audit Service participated in a number of discussions on the matter and finally collaborated with the Ghana Integrity Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, the Attorney- General, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Parliament to draft the Legislative Instrument recommended by Section 13 of Act 550. As part of the new administrative procedure, public office holders specified in the act had been sorted into defined categories; Mr Quartey said. "Key officials or administrators have been identified to handle each category and the collaborating stakeholders have agreed to assist in identifying officers who have not been specifically mentioned but who, by virtue of their functions, fall within the brackki1et of persons who should declare their assets," he stated. Previously, assets declaration forms could be obtained only from the Office of the Auditor-General in Accra and returned to same, but currently the distribution of the forms has been decentralised. For instance, forms can now be obtained from the regional offices of the Audit Service and the completed forms can be returned directly to those offices. The Assistant Auditor-General, Mr Richard Asiedu, gave an overview of the Assets Declaration Act and the stages of assets declaration forms, explaining that were seven stages involved in the new administrative process. He said the rationale behind the Assets Declaration was to, among other things, use it as a tool for fighting corruption, curb conflict of interest and, above promote impartiality and integrity in the public service. The Assistant Auditor-General in charge of the Unit, Mr Gallant Akorly, led a group discussion and educated the participants on how to fill the forms. Source: Daily Graphic