Conflict of interest not defined in constitution - Emile Short

Graphic.com.gh Politics Aug - 23 - 2019 , 12:17 3 minutes read

A former head of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Justice Emile Short has said the constitution of Ghana neither defines the meaning or scope of conflict of interest.

Justice Emile Short made the comment in a radio interview with Accra based Adom FM on Friday in reference to the allegation of conflict of interest levelled against the Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr Agyenim Boateng Adjei.

To Justice Short, "the Conduct of Public Officers Bill 2013", which among other things explains what conflict of interest is, is yet to be passed by Parliament into law.

President Akufo-Addo on Thursday directed CHRAJ to investigate allegations of conflict of interest levelled against Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei, Chief Executive of the PPA.

It follows investigations by freelance journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni which revealed that Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), a company incorporated in June 2017, has won a number of government contracts through restrictive tendering at the time Mr Adjei was the PPA boss.

The investigative piece published on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 showed two directors and shareholders of TDL, one of whom was the CEO of the PPA, Agyenim Boateng Adjei.

Writing to the PPA, secretary to the president, Nana Asante Bediatuo said “I am directed by the president of the Republic to refer to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice allegations of Conflict of interest made against Mr. Agyenim Boateng Adjei, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority in a documentary titled ‘Contracts for Sale...”

Resisting the temptation to comment on the merit of the case involving the embattled PPA boss, Justice Emile Short said the time is due for Ghana to define what constitutes a conflict of interest situation and related offences such as gift taking and asset declaration.

He revealed that this has been a battle the Ghana Anti-corruption Campaign has been involved in since 2013 but it is yet to make progress.

“The Ghana Anti-corruption campaign has been calling on parliament to pass this bill as quickly as possible because it is a very critical and important piece of legislation in the fight against corruption,” he said.

In the face of a lack, Commissioner Short explained that over the years CHRAJ has been relying on a draft guideline the organization did to determine complaints of conflict of interest.

"CHRAJ has issued guidelines on conflict of interest and during my term of office we started discussions with the Attorney General office on passing legislation to deal with conflict of interest which resulted in the drafting of a Bill called the Conflict of Public Officers Bill 2013."

"That Bill deals with the conflict of interest, gifts, asset declaration and so on, unfortunately, it's still in Parliament, Parliament has not passed it. It should be passed as soon as possible."

"I am urging Parliament, as soon as possible to pass the Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2013, because this is an important piece of legislation which will assist in the promotion of the anti-corruption fight. This is the message I want to send to Parliament."