Former Chair of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Francis Emile Short has called on relevant stakeholders to work together to force the legislature to pass the Conduct of Public Officers Bill.

According to Justice Short, the aforementioned Bill has been in Parliament for over a decade and needs more advocacy to get the Bill passed.

He noted that the Conduct of Public Officers Bill when passed into law will effectively deal with accumulation of unexplained wealth in the country.

“The Conduct of Public Officers Bill has been in Parliament for a little over a decade and  nothing has been done, so we need rigorous strong lobbying by all stakeholders including, Civil Society Organisation, the media, Parliament and the government to take appropriate action.

“This will enforce and strengthen the asset declaration and to consider empowering the Special Prosecutor to apply for the court for unexplained wealth orders to enable the office to ensure that anybody who is seen possessing unexplained wealth can be questioned, he stated.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Wednesday, the former CHRAJ boss highlighted the importance of the nation enacting a law that will curb corruption amongst public officials and in public institutions.

He noted that “the economy is bleeding as a result of the extent of the corruption that Ghana suffers.”

Thus, until Ghana emulates countries like the United Kingdom, unexplained wealth accrued by individuals, particularly, persons in authority cannot be criminalised.

“As the law stands at the moment, if your neighbor acquire unexplained wealth within a short time in office and you report to the police; it is not a criminal offence.

“The enforcement agency would have to proceed under the power that CHRAJ has or EOCO has to be able to conduct an investigation, otherwise, there is nothing that you can do about the unexplained wealth the person has,” he said.