Azeem urges Mills to crack whip on Ministers who have not declared assets

President John Mills Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative Vitus Azeem is asking President Mills to crack the whip on ministers and other public officials who have failed to declare their assets. Information he picked up in November indicates only 37 public officials out of over 200 of them have declared their assets. This he noted is in clear breach of the constitution. He told Joy News’ Seth Kwame Boateng the ministers are not being accountable to the people of Ghana adding that a day’s delay in declaration of assets is enough time for public officials to acquire illegal assets. Shortly after assuming office, President Mills on February 23, 2009 as part of his pledge to fight corruption issued a directive to his appointees to declare their assets seven days after being appointed, but that appears to have been shelved. “He gave specific instructions to the ministers to declare their asset by certain date; he is the appointing authority; he has power to appoint and to disappoint. The date has passed and we have not heard him sanctioning one single minister for not declaring his or her assets” Azeem bemoaned. Not impressed with flagrant disregard of the president’s own directive, Vitus Azeem said the President must act. “He should publish the names of the people who are not declaring and sanction them. Sanction them include removing them from office because they have contravened the constitution and gone against his own directive. By failing to declare their assets the anti-corruption campaigner said the Mills administration is dishonouring its campaign pledge to be transparent and accountable to the people. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana