Former Auditor-General of Ghana, Daniel Yaw Domelevo has lauded President Mahama’s directive for all his appointees to immediately fulfil asset declaration requirements, insisting that filling the asset declaration form should not last more than an hour.

The president on Wednesday directed the first set of his ministerial appointees to begin the process of declaring their assets and indicated that the Chief of Staff would soon announce a cut-off date by which all eligible appointees must submit their asset declaration forms to the Auditor-General.

Domelevo while speaking on Joy FM's morning show on Thursday, said he has had to declare his assets twice and it does not take more than an hour to complete the process.

Ghana’s constitution in Article 286 (1) requires a good number of public office holders to submit to the Auditor-General “a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly -
(a) within three months after the coming into force of this Constitution or before taking office, as the case may be,
(b) at the end of every four years; and
(c) at the end of his term of office.”

And according to Domelevo, listing one’s assets does not last for more than an hour, suggesting that unless the individual is a multi-billionaire as to require a lot of time to think of all the property they owe, this exercise should be carried out quickly to enhance the fight against corruption. It will also enhance transparency and accountability in governance.

He also suggested the need for a bill to amend the law so the asset declaration regime can effectively be implemented, saying merely declaring the asset on documents without physical examination of the assets and liabilities so declared, may be an exercise in futility.

Domelevo said handing a public office holder six months to comply with the requirement may not be beneficial because it could suffer abuse.

“Do you know why? The six months is too much a time to be given to a public officer. By that time, he or she will have known how he can abuse the public office, and then do what we call the anticipatory declaration, ie, he has a plot of land, and then he ends up putting up a 10-story building. So he will declare to us that I have a 10-story building. Remember, the declarations are not verified, so he will declare that he has that already. So by the time he leaves office, he will declare assets, when you ask, he will say ah, this is an asset I had before coming, but may be he built it in the past four months or past one year. So it is good we go according to the Constitution.

“And let me also add that asset declaration is not limited to Ghana, in many jurisdictions when you are nominated or named by the President, you go and declare before you are appointed. And that's what I think our constitution wanted to say- that before taking office declare. So when the ministers were nominated and to go through vetting all this while, they should have gone to the Auditor-General and declared. So if I were the president, well, I'm not the president, thankfully, I will have told them that, after going through all those processes, declare your assets, then I will swear you in, your assets and liability.”

Asked how practical the expectation was of the nominees to comply with the requirement given the apparent short notice between their nomination and when they took office, Domelevo said it is better to uphold the law.

“Well, practicality is one thing, the requirement of the law is another. But let me tell you, I don't know, unless you are so much a multimillion billionaire, declaring your asset, that form doesn't take more than an hour to fill. I have declared my asset twice. So you mean you are going to be as a minister, (and you are so busy) such that you cannot spare an hour or two to fill that form? That constitutional requirement?”

“The question is, what is enough time? And the Constitution says before you take office, so you hold on and declare before you take office. Are you saying to me that if they give you an offer, that we will give you US$1 million, or GH¢1 million, if you are able to declare your assets and liabilities before the close of today you won't be able to do that?”