Discussants at a day's workshop have called for a more rigorous enforcement of assets disclosure as a way of curbing corruption in the country. They argued that when countries improved governance and reduced corruption, they reaped a positive development dividend. The workshop, which was on "Effective implementation of assets disclosure regime", was attended by Members of Parliament, representatives from the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, the Auditor-General's Department and the Attorney-General's Department. It was jointly organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and the Audit Service in Accra yesterday. The Chairman for the occasion, Professor Ken Attafuah, a legal practitioner, explained that assets declaration was a measure whereby public officials were required to periodically declare their income and wealth for scrutiny by a state authority and noted that assets and interest disclosure was a major global anti-corruption issue. He stated that Article 8.5 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2003) stressed measures, systems and appropriate authorities for make provisions for the effective implementation of the Declaration of Assets and Disqualification Act, 550. He intimated that a good assets disclosure could help prevent conflict of interest among public officials, increase transparency in the decision-making process, provide a baseline and, therefore, a means for comparison to identify assets that might have been corruptly acquired and be a basis for successfully enforcing criminal and other legal anti-corruption provisions. Prof Attafuah said the challenge now facing the country was how to develop a comprehensive assets disclosure regime and ensure its effective implementation in a country where public office, especially political office, was seen as a quick route to acquiring personal wealth. He added that beyond codes, laws and sanctions, a supporting working environment should be built for asset declaration. The Democracy and Governance Officer of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Mr Ted Lawrence, said corruption was a major cause of poverty, as well as a barrier to overcoming it, and urged that the issue be vigorously addressed "if we want to free the people of Africa from the cycle of poverty and misery". He stated that developing effective strategies to combat corruption and control unethical conduct in the public service had become an important priority of governments that wanted to achieve economic progress. "Asset and interest disclosure has become a key global anti-corruption issue, as evidenced by its inclusion in the UN Convention Against Corruption. One of the recommendations emerging from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Report for Ghana was that Ghana's asset disclosure guidelines should be revised to allow for easier investigation and prosecution of violators," Mr Lawrence stated. Culled from Daily Graphic