When Akufo-Addo declared his assets

In January 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo declared his assets some days after being sworn into power in line with the constitutional requirement stipulated in Act 550 of the 1992 Republican Constitution.

Exactly two weeks after his inauguration on January 7, he declared his assets on the 27th of January 2017.

This was after initial hitches with the asset declaration.

The President was unable to fulfill the constitutional requirement of declaring his assets after assuming office because the Auditor General’s department run out of receipt books.

Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin had explained the initial attempts by presidential staffers to file the president’s assets declaration form was unsuccessful because of the shortage of receipt booklets at the office of the Auditor-General.

ACT – 1998 (ACT 550)

Section 1 of ACT 550 on Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by Public Office Holders states that “A person who holds a public office mentioned in section 3 of this Act shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all properties or assets owned by him; and all liabilities owed by him; whether directly or indirectly.

It also states that the declaration shall be made on the form provided in Schedule II to this Act and it shall be the responsibility of the officers required to make the declaration under this Act to obtain the forms from the office of the Auditor-General.

It adds the declaration shall be made by the public officer before taking office; at the end of every four years; and at the end of the term of his office and shall in any event be submitted not later than 6 months of the occurrence of any of the events specified in this sub-section.

The conversation about asset declaration:

There has been discourse about the subject of asset declaration for some days now, following the emergence of some documents purported to be the Will of former Forest Commission Boss, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie.

In portions of the Will, the former public official allocated some over 70 properties including portions of the Achimota Forest to some family members.

It later emerged that the former Forest Commission Boss did not declare his assets.

I declared my assets within two weeks of my Inauguration and so has the Vice President, @MBawumia #6MonthsOfResults pic.twitter.com/27thlCQHwz

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) July 18, 2017