The information that President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his assets four times in the course of his public career is soothing, considering that many public officers circumvent this constitutional requirement. Even more ennobling is that the declarations of assets by the President and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, have been made public. Unfortunately, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) provided for by the Third Schedule, Part 1a, to maintain standards and ensure public morality and accountability; and The Code of Conduct Tribunal established by the Fifth Schedule, Part 1, paragraph 15, of the 1999 constitution, to enforce those standards, have not lived up to their obligations.
President Buhari stated the number of declarations while in Ghana, early this week. He also challenged the media to seek out his declarations, as he has discharged his constitutional obligations. The President further stated that the governors, ministers and permanent secretaries must declare their assets, as required by the constitution.
We identify with the challenge thrown to the media by the president, and extend same to the civil society, as a collaborative watch-dog of the society. As the president observed, the media should demand from the bureau, the information in the assets declaration form; under the purview of Freedom of Information Act.
As we have seen over the years, the bureau and the tribunal established by the constitution to help rein in the conduct of public officers have been more of laggards. Were the organs to be alive to their responsibilities, all the state officers named in Part 2 of the fifth schedule to the constitution, would “immediately after taking office” declare their “properties, assets and liabilities and those of unmarried children under the age of eighteen”. This should be followed with another declaration “at the end of every four years” or “at the end of term of office” as provided by the constitution.
The idea behind the constitutional provision is to create a public trail of the assets of public officers while they are in public service. As provided in the fifth schedule, an unexplainable acquisition, while in public service, has serious consequences. In paragraph 18(2), these include vacation of office by the culprit, disqualification from membership of legislative house, and from holding any public office for 10 years or less, and seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.
We urge all the public officers listed in Part 2, paragraphs 1 to 16 of the schedule, to immediately declare their assets, in accordance with the law, if they have not done so by now. The constitution makes the declaration mandatory ‘immediately after taking office’; so there should be no further delay. The officers listed include the president, vice president, Senate President, deputy senate president, speaker and deputy speaker, House of Representatives, speakers of states houses of assembly, members and staff of legislative houses, governors and deputy governors of states, justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, ministers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, director-generals, chairmen and members of local councils, police and military chiefs, among others.
As provided in paragraph 18(3), the sanctions that can be meted out by the tribunal shall not prejudice ‘the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence’. In our view, a vibrant bureau and tribunal, will help reduce corrupt practices, and even preclude corrupt persons from further accessing public offices. It would also create employment, should they build the necessary capacity to perform their constitutional obligations, which include verifying the assets declared by the public officers, at the beginning and the end of public tenures.
With president and vice president as shining lights in this case, the Senate President and House Speaker should do same as well as governors. So others can follow.
