Imani Center for Policy & Education has launched a new transparency campaign aimed at tracking the wealth accumulation of Ghana’s public officials using the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Announcing the initiative, the president of IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe, said the campaign is to challenge the long-standing practice of submitting asset declarations in sealed envelopes to the Auditor-General, making them effectively inaccessible to the public.
“Ghana’s asset declarations have been filed in sealed envelopes for 30 years. In that form, they might as well not exist,” Mr. Cudjoe said.
Under Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution, public officials are required to declare their assets upon entering office, every four years, and upon leaving office.
However, for more than three decades, these declarations have remained hidden from public scrutiny. IMANI argues that neither the Constitution nor the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), explicitly mandates such secrecy.
The campaign will begin with RTI requests targeting the asset declarations of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, and Mohammed Baba Jamal Ahmed, Member of Parliament and former Deputy Minister.
IMANI describes these cases as test cases intended to trigger a legal ruling on the lawfulness of the “sealed envelope” practice.
The strategy will proceed in stages, starting with RTI applications to the Auditor-General, followed by internal review and appeal to the RTI Commission, and if necessary, judicial review and a constitutional challenge.
IMANI’s ultimate goal is to establish a transparent asset declaration system that allows citizens to monitor changes in the wealth of public officials over time.
