‘Nemo debet esse iudex in propria causa’ which is a Latin maxim meaning, no judge ought to be a judge in his own case is generally accepted.
Kwesi Pratt, with this tenet at the back of his mind, said he cannot understand the reasons for which the formulation of a piece of legislation meant to guard against corruption by Public Office holders, could be left for the “very people who have an interest in concealing assets”.
“There is another thing about this assets declaration regime which Nana Akomea raised. First of all, who is making the law”? The very people who have an interest in concealing assets are the people making the law and I find it problematic,” the seasoned Journalist stated on Metro TV’s “Good Morning Ghana” show.
The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper passed the above comments during a panel discussion on the issue of assets declaration by government officials.
Act 550, enacted in 1998, mandates the declaration of assets and liabilities of public office holders before assumption of office, but that is not the case as things stand now.
It is for this reason that Kwesi Pratt believes “you can be the biggest thief in the public sector and still avoid controversy. In which case, your assets declaration would never be made public. We need to understand that; that declaration itself, made public could trigger an investigation”.
Mr. Pratt also made it clear that the inability of the general public to have access to information with regards to declared assets of officials, ‘is a slap in face of Act 550’ which mandates all public office holders to declare all assets and liabilities before assumption of office.
According to him, the country does not need to conduct investigations before declaring the assets of public sector workers but the declarations will lead to investigations.
Source: GhanaWeb
