Senior Presidential Advisor Yaw Osafo-Maafo is advocating greater transparency in the declaration of assets by public officials.

He further cites its crucial role in enhancing accountability within Ghana’s governance system.

Mr Osafo-Maafo noted that although current regulations require public officials, including ministers of state and certain public sector personnel, to declare their assets to the auditor general, the lack of transparency in this process undermines accountability.

Expressing his disagreement with the existing asset declaration framework, Mr Osafo-Maafo emphasized that the confidentiality maintained between the auditor general and individuals impedes scrutiny and accountability.

According to him, Ghana should not have such a law in its current state, and steps should be taken to remove the provision that ensures confidentiality.

He stressed the importance of making asset declaration information more accessible to the public, arguing that increased transparency would enhance public trust in the government and its officials.

“In Ghana, when you become a minister of state or a public sector worker at certain levels, the first thing you do is to declare your assets and file same to the auditor general.

"What I don’t like about this law is that after you declare your asset, everything is kept confidential between the auditor general and yourself and therefore, it becomes difficult for anybody to challenge the authenticity of the declaration."

“I think that we should declare the assets but there should be a certain level of transparency in the declaration of the assets so that people can assess what is declared by certain procedures.”

Meanwhile, Mr Osafo-Maafo also brought attention to the prevailing cultural norms around inheritance, which he stated were a point of contention during the formulation of the Declaration of Asset and Disqualification Act.

He noted that cultural practices concerning inheritance often clash with the requirements of asset declaration, creating challenges in implementation.

“I happened to be consulting for somebody when we were drawing up the constitution of the Republic and I was championing the publication of the assets declared and the chiefs were so furious with me and said they would be killed when people knew what they had," he added.