Explaining this on Point Blank on Eyewitness News, Mr. Domelovo made reference to Article 286 of the constitution, which defines who public officers are, and why they must declare their assets.

These public officers ranged from the President of the Republic to Ministers of State to Heads of Ministry or government department or equivalent office in the Civil Service.

Mr. Domelovo further noted that Act 550, which is the public office holders (declaration of assets and disqualification) Act, added to this list by defining public office to include police, prison officers, persons in government-owned companies and “any other public officer whose salary is equal to that of a director in the civil service or above.”

“So the GHc 3,727 [and above] I am talking about, I have picked the salary of the director in the Civil Service. That is the minimum salary of a director in the civil service,” he concluded.

Asset declaration not only for politicians

Mr. Domelovo stressed that education would be important to make people aware of the fact that declaration of assets was not meant for only politicians vying for office.

“I’m sure a lot of civil servants, education service staff and etc, when they hear about asset declaration, they all think it is politicians’ business… I need to draw Ghanaians and fellow public servants’ attention that once your salary is equal to GHc3.727, you fall within the net and you are supposed to declare your assets.”

Limitations of Auditor General

The Auditor-General cannot sanction any public officer for failing to declare their assets.

The Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), or the Chief Justice, are the only entities that can take action against persons who fail to declare their assets upon a report from the Auditor General.

CHRAJ or the Chief Justice may take any action deemed appropriate following an investigation or admission of guilt.

It should also be noted that the Act 550, which requires the mandated public officer to submit a sealed envelope to the Auditor-General, also states that the Auditor-General has no right to open and check or verify the contents of the asset declaration form.

The constitution stipulates that only CHRAJ may open it up when there is a controversy in line with due process.

Properties to be declared

• Lands, houses and buildings;
• Farms;
• Concessions;
• Trust or family property in respect of which the officer has beneficial interest;
• Vehicles, plant and machinery, fishing boats, trawlers, generating plants; business interests;
• Securities and bank balances;
• Bonds and treasury bills;
• Jewellery of the value of ¢5 million or above; objects of art of the value of ¢5 million or
  above;
• Life and other insurance policies;
• Such other properties as are specified on the declaration for

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Public servants earning over GHc3,700 to declare assets appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Pressure group, Occupy Ghana, revealed this in a statement after meeting with the newly sworn-in Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo on Wednesday, January 11, 2016.

“The Auditor-General stated that, he intended to establish a special task-force to review all available, previous Audit Reports, and reveal instances where the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge may be applied as a first step to recover lost public funds from offending persons,” the statement added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xgdIE51DMGGJbhg5a6qSVxTXvjei8Nje”]The pressure group has since November 2015, been on the neck of the Auditor General to recover about GHc40 billion state funds allegedly misappropriated by some public officials.

Several efforts by Occupy Ghana for the Auditor-General to retrieve the monies including initiating court proceedings, have failed to yield any positive result.

Meanwhile, the pressure group in the statement said it is optimistic about the current Auditor-General, and is ready to offer its support to him to succeed in recovering the monies.

“Although this is just one meeting, and although our previous meetings and engagements with the Government and the Auditor-General’s Department were frustrating and did not yield much, we are somehow optimistic that this initial engagement with the new Auditor-General will be a sign of great things to come with respect to Disallowance and Surcharges.”

“If the new Auditor-General is prepared to carry this through, we will pledge our unflinching support to help him achieve this goal,” the statement added.

Below is the full statement:

OCCUPYGHANA® MEETS WITH THE AUDITOR-GENERAL ON DISALLOWANCE AND SURCHARGE

It will be recalled that after months of unproductive engagement with the Auditor-General’s Department and the Government with respect to the demand by OccupyGhana® for the exercise of the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge under article 187 of the Constitution, and sections 18 and 19 of the Audit Service Act, OccupyGhana® was compelled to file an action in the Supreme Court against the Government.

The powers of Disallowance and Surcharge allow the Auditor-General to commence the recovery of public funds that are illegally spent or lost through negligence or misconduct.

These powers have never been exercised by the Auditor-General.

That matter is ripe for hearing.

However, yesterday, 11th January 2017, OccupyGhana® was invited to a meeting with the new Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo.

At that meeting, Mr. Domelevo expressed a desire, not for a continued court fight, but to work with us in the exercise of Disallowance and Surcharge powers.

It turns out that this Auditor-General so believes in the exercise of Disallowance and Surcharge powers by the Auditor-General, that he managed to get the Zambian Government to pass a law, the Public Audit Act, 2016 (No. 29 of 2016), sections 26 and 27 of which are a near-verbatim reproduction of sections 18 and 19 of Ghana’s Audit Service Act.

He bemoaned the fact that although Ghana has had such powerful and far-reaching provisions in both our Constitution and legislation, we have never implemented them, and audit reports have been reduced to a mere “journalistic report of events” with no teeth to bite. Meanwhile other countries were willing to accept those provisions and use them.

He revealed Malawi was also in the process of adopting similar provisions as part of its laws.

The Auditor-General stated that he intended to establish a special task force to review all available, previous Audit Reports, and reveal instances where the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge may be applied as a first step to recover lost public funds from offending persons.

Although this is just one meeting, and although our previous meetings and engagements with the Government and the Auditor-General’s Department were frustrating and did not yield much, we are somehow optimistic that this initial engagement with the new Auditor-General will be a sign of great things to come with respect to Disallowance and Surcharges.

OccupyGhana® will not rest until the day when the first Disallowances and Surcharges are issued by the Auditor-General.

Then we will commence pressure on the office of the Attorney-General to enforce those Surcharges and recover the lost funds. We are convinced that this will be a major way to plug the leakage and wastage in the public sector and ensure that public funds neither line individual pockets nor are treated with reckless abandon; but will be available for use to improve the lives of the citizens of Ghana.

If the new Auditor-General is prepared to carry this through, we will pledge our unflinching support to help him achieve this goal.

Yours, for God and Country,

OccupyGhana®

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post New Auditor General to review audit reports – Occupy Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.