Former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has criticised what he calls a troubling obsession with gifts in public office.
He warned that public officers are paid to live within their means, not off generosity or favours.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express with Evans Mensah, Mr Domelevo rejected the new gift policy introduced under the recently launched Code of Conduct by President John Mahama, describing the ¢20,000 gift threshold as “a no no.”
“I think we seem to like gifts too much,” Domelevo declared.
“In fact, when you are employed in a public office, you are remunerated. So you are supposed to live with your salary, not gifts.”
He said introducing monetary ceilings for gift acceptance only creates loopholes that can be exploited and encourages public servants to justify unethical behaviour under technicalities.
“Creating these windows and putting an amount of ¢20,000 as a limit, I think, is a no no. As Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante said on the same show, at the World Bank where I worked, our threshold was $50.
“Not $100. And if you receive any gift above that, you surrender it. You keep only below $50.”
He argued that Ghana must align its ethics with international best practices and keep the thresholds low to avoid normalising influence-peddling in government.
While Mr Domelevo acknowledged some useful additions in the new code of conduct, he stressed that unless these are made binding through law, the rules risk becoming political decorations.
“When I looked at the document, it is good. Some areas add value. But I wish they would take those good parts and add them to the Code of Conduct Bill that has already been prepared, and then pass it into law. That way it doesn’t apply only during Mahama’s administration.”
He warned that if not legislated, every new government could simply discard the rules and bring their own.
“So that it is not something which is going to guide public office holders only during Mahama’s administration. When another person takes office, he or she will say, ‘No, I don’t respect this. I’m also bringing mine.’ I don’t think we need that.”
Mr Domelevo also expressed concern about the asset declaration segment of the code, especially the threshold for declaring luxury items such as jewellery.
“If you go to page 30 of the code, they talk about the declaration of assets and liabilities. They talk about jewellery—a minimum of ¢5 million.
“That is a lot! Hey, I don’t even know if the house some of us stay in is worth ¢5 million. So for jewellery, that threshold is too high.”
He added that such thresholds are inconsistent with Ghana’s existing legal framework and must be corrected.
“It is not consistent with the law. Act 550 does not say anything like that. So I think they may have to review that and make it align with the law.”
Mr Domelevo’s comments come as part of ongoing national debates about integrity in public office.
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