Parliament to enact Lifestyle Audit Act — Speaker Bagbin

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has said that the House is ready to legislate a lifestyle audit act to end the abuse of state resources by individuals appointed into privileged positions in society.

He said enacting such a law would stop the impunity with which government appointees and public servants flaunted ill-gotten wealth in the country.

“Colleagues, this is a defining moment. As public trust in institutions wanes globally, our ability to work transparently and effectively will determine whether citizens see accountability as a real possibility or as an elusive problem,” the Speaker said.

Deliberations

Mr Bagbin gave the assurance during an engagement with key anti-corruption and accountability institutions in Parliament yesterday.

The event brought together heads of those institutions to deliberate on the institutionalisation of a National Integrity Award scheme, a key recommendation of the National Anti

Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) for the legislature to adopt to curb corruption in the country.

They also discussed the validation of a work plan on possible activities for execution in the memorandum of understanding that Parliament signed with the institutions to fight corruption.

The institutions included the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Ghana Police Service, the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, Parliament, Economic and Organised Crime Office, Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Audit Service, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Narcotic Control Agency, the Internal Audit Agency and the National Investigations Bureau.

Collaboration

To curtail the effects of corruption, Mr Bagbin urged the institutions to be mindful of the fact that their mandates, though distinct, were complementary.

He explained that “turf wars” among them served no useful purposes, adding that “we play into the hands of those who seek to evade accountability”.

“Our strength is unity, and we must work diligently to maintain the spirit of collaboration,” the Speaker said.  

He urged the institutions to use the common platform they had created to combat corruption, engage in continuous learning and growth, saying, “We can sharpen our collective ability to confront corruption, crime and mismanagement in all of its forms”.

The Speaker commended the institutions for the ongoing efforts to promote accountability and advance the fight against corruption.

He said the execution of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Parliament and the accountability institutions signals the legislature’s belief in the goals of those institutions.

“We are committed to continue to be an active and engaged partner in the shared quest for integrity, justice, peace and corruption-free Ghana,” he said.

The Speaker said that if institutions worked closely together and shared information freely, they would respond better to corruption, scandals, systemic weaknesses and governance failures.

Objectives

The Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal, spelt out the objectives of the MoU Parliament signed with the key institutions in 2020 to include enhancing information exchange, promoting mutual understanding and strengthening institutional capacity to confront evolving threats such as organised crime and corruption.He, however, called for a broadened participation of partners in the agreement, saying that, “It must not remain the preserve of the few of us here”.

“Every institution with the mandate to uphold accountability should be part of this collective effort since the challenges we have are great,” the commissioner said.