The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, has stated that the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng’s view that declared assets by public office holders should not be published, is at variance with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution.
He contended that Article 286 of the Constitution is clear on this matter.
“How can the Constitution provide for declaration of assets and deny us from seeing the nature of those assets?” he asked while contributing to discussions on TV3’s The KeyPoints on June 7.
Mr Dafeamekpor made this comment in reaction to an assertion by Mr Agyebeng that he disagreed with calls for the publication of assets declared by public officials.
“I do not and I will not add my voice to calls for the publication of asset for public scrutiny. In our experience, it will be unhelpful and would nearly subject public officers to inordinate public curiosity and a specter of the real likelihood of reprisal attacks against their asset,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng made his stance known at a high-level conference on Ghana’s Anti-corruption Architecture on Friday, June 6, 2025.
He averred that such publication could subject public officials to reprisals.
In reaction, Mr Dafeamekpor noted that, “We are enjoined by the Constitution to enact laws, as Parliament, to flesh out the provisions of Article 286. It is that provision that deals with Conflict of interest and all that- Conduct of public officers- You are enjoined to declare. Can you declare and hide? By the sheer nature of the language, when you declare, you are opening it up publicly, that is why it is called declaration. So, you can’t declare and put it in a closet.”
He acknowledged that Parliament has not lived up to its responsibility of providing the needed legislation to back Article 286.
“That is why Parliament has been blamed for not coming out legislation to give flesh to this. So, I think Kissi got it absolutely wrong. Being the Special Prosecutor, he should be the first advocate, the first disciple for publication. So, he is wrong,” the South Dayi MP asserted.
He assured that Parliament is in the process of accomplishing this task.
“We have designed a Private Members’ Bill, but government says hold on, we are sponsoring a larger bill for this. It is not only about assets, it is about liabilities,” he disclosed.
He advised Mr Kissi Agyebeng and those who think like him to read the 1992 Constitution as a whole document.
“One of the cardinal principles of reading a constitution is to read it as whole and the principle has not departed from us ever since we left law school. The principle of the 1992 Constitution is about accountability and transparency. We may be having difficulties with implementation, but you must be accountable to the people,” Mr Dafeamekpor stressed.
