President John Dramani Mahama has directed that all political appointees who failed to declare their assets by the March 31, 2025 deadline must forfeit three months of their salaries. The forfeited funds will be donated to the “Mahama Cares Trust Fund,” a medical support fund created under his administration.
President Mahama made this announcement while unveiling a new code of conduct for public officials on Monday May 5, 2025. He emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in government, stating that asset declaration is a key tool in the fight against corruption.
“I gave a clear deadline, and some have not complied. Those who were appointed or nominated before March 31 and failed to meet the deadline will lose three months of their salaries. This is in addition to the one-month salary that all appointees have been asked to contribute to the Mahama Cares Fund.” This means those who missed the deadline will contribute a total of four months’ salary to the fund.
President Mahama further warned, that any appointee who still fails to declare their assets by the close of day on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, will be automatically dismissed from office.
”However, if by close of day, Wednesday, 7th, May 2025, any of you who still fail to declare your assets, Count yourself automatically dismissed,” he added.
He concluded by encouraging Ghanaians to join in monitoring compliance with the new code of conduct to ensure that accountability and transparency prevails.
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A few days ago, former Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo had called on President John Mahama to sack all government officials who have failed to declare their assets as required by law.
In an interview on JoyNews, Mr. Domelevo described the failure of officials to comply with the President’s directive as a clear display of “gross indiscipline and disrespect.” He said individuals who have not submitted their asset declaration forms should be promptly removed from office.
“This is not how to reset a country,” he said. “If the people chosen to support the President do not respect his orders, then they do not deserve their positions.”
President Mahama declared his assets in February and gave his appointees until March to do the same or face punishment. However, a report by The Fourth Estate shows that many have not complied.
Out of 55 ministers and deputy ministers, nine have not declared their assets. Also, eight of 32 presidential staffers and 37 out of 84 heads of state institutions have failed to meet the deadline.
Mr Domelevo urged the President to act quickly and firmly. “There are over 33 million Ghanaians,” he said. “We have many capable people who can take over from those who don’t want to follow simple rules.”
He stressed that making an example of the non-compliant officials would help restore discipline in public office.
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Daniel Yaw Domelevo has called for a constitutional amendment to strip the Auditor-General’s office of its current responsibility for handling asset declaration by public officials. He argues that the existing arrangement undermines both the credibility of asset declaration and the core auditing duties of the office.
Speaking at the Constitution Review Committee’s stakeholder engagement on anti-corruption in Accra on Monday, April 14 2025, Mr Domelevo said the current system was flawed and had little impact on tackling corruption.
He disclosed that before his appointment in 2016, public officers submitted sealed envelopes marked “asset declaration,” which no one was allowed to open or verify.
“When I assumed office, my first question was: what if a court orders the opening of a sealed declaration and finds newspaper clippings inside? How would I prove I didn’t insert them?” he said.
According to him, he introduced new protocols during his tenure, requiring declarants to present valid identification, sign each page of their declaration forms, and submit the documents unsealed. However, he expressed concern that this system may have been abandoned since his departure in 2020.
Mr Domelevo insisted that filing an asset declaration should not be a mere formality.
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“Declaration to someone implies that the person must see what is being declared. Paper filings alone won’t stop corruption,” he said, calling for the declarations to be properly scrutinised and published.
He recommended that the constitutional mandate for asset declarations be moved to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) or a specialised anti-corruption agency.
“Any Auditor-General will naturally focus on auditing public accounts, because that is the core mandate.
The arrears in audits alone show how much of a distraction asset declarations have become,” he added.
Mr Domelevo also proposed several constitutional reforms. He called for a pre-office declaration requirement, rejecting Parliament’s current six-month window for public officials to declare their assets after assuming office.
He criticised the practice of declaring non-existent assets, such as unfinished projects or undeveloped land marked for future development.
He also called for the Constitution to include a clear and detailed chapter on corruption, setting out what constitutes corrupt conduct and outlining how it should be addressed.
