Passage of Conduct of Public Officers Bill; We need strong institutions to enforce the law- Political analyst

A political analyst Mr. Alex Emmanuel Nti has stated that the Conduct of Public Officers Bill if passed will take care of public sector conduct because it deals with public sector corruption.

He said It will also address the conduct of public officers, conflict of interest, and some elements of unexplained wealth.

Speaking on Plan B FM’s late afternoon show EBAANOSEN hosted by Ohene Kinnah, Mr. Nti emphasized that, Ghana lacks enforcement power to make the laws work looking at the political sensitivity in the country. He contended that strong institutions are needed to enforce it to achieve it intended purposes.

He said institutions like the Attorney General Department, CHRAJ, EOCO, and the like must sit up and probe all public officials to know if the assets declared are genuine or not.

Mr. Nti said as we are pushing for asset declaration to combat corruption there should be the need to take good care of public officials because if they are hungry all the hard work  will be in vain.

Meanwhile , the Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, is advocating for the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers Bill.

According to her, the bill would guarantee that public sector workers behave as expected.

Speaking on an Accra-based radio station on January 30, she said, “One thing we need to do, which civil society and even the public sector, I believe, will be very much interested in, is to pass the Conduct of Public Officers Bill.

“This bill takes care of public sector conduct because this is the CPI and it deals with public sector corruption. It will also address the conduct of public officers, conflict of interest, some elements of unexplained wealth, and this is the bane of our society. We see people amassing wealth and we cannot interrogate this.”

She explained that it was not enough to complain about corruption without making legislation to curb the menace.

“If we have a law on it, it will help. Apart from resources, we also believe that leadership should show clear commitment,” she added.

Ghana scored 43 out of 100 for the fourth year running in the recent Corruption Perceptions Index report released by Transparency International.