Aide to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Mr Miracles Aboagye, has insisted that asset declaration was a core priority during the administration of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, despite current public praise directed at President John Mahama’s approach to promoting transparency.
Speaking in reaction to an investigative report by The Fourth Estate, on JoyNews’ Newsfile, which revealed that some current government appointees had failed to declare their assets before assuming office, Mr Aboagye defended the record of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government on the matter.
According to him, former President Akufo-Addo made it a personal responsibility to ensure that every appointee under his leadership fulfilled the constitutional requirement of asset declaration.
He added that he, Mr Aboagye, played a direct role in ensuring compliance among appointees.
“What the President has done is nothing new… in Nana Akufo-Addo’s government, he did it, except he didn’t put the camera on what he was doing, and if I recall correctly, I coordinated the receipts for all MMDCEs across the country, and that was the rule; there were coordinators, and Ekow Sumah, who was anchor at the Presidency made sure that you had to do it,” he claimed.
Mr Aboagye’s comments come at a time when many Ghanaians are commending President Mahama for what is being perceived as a bold and transparent step in the fight against corruption. The current administration has garnered praise for publicly verifying and highlighting compliance with asset declaration laws among its officials.
However, Mr Aboagye appears to challenge the narrative that the Mahama administration is pioneering a new standard. In his view, the NPP government equally prioritised integrity, albeit with less media fanfare.
“Maybe the only difference here is that there are cameras on it for the purposes of people seeing it, that it has been done, but the Nana Akufo-Addo actually insisted on seeing your receipts,” he added.
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