More and more scandalous deeds are being unearthed from the cupboards of the people whose slogan was the 'decade that stopped the decay'.

The US-based 'investigators' into the foreign accounts and activities of the NDC 'men and women of integrity' continue to dig up dirt. They have discovered that Brigadier Attipoe, the Military Attach? in Washington, is the "proud" owner of a $400,000 house in suburban Virginia.

The investigations show that once the NDC lost the election he quickly and quietly transferred the property to his friend by name Osei-Bonsu, who is reported to be at odds with his (Attipoe's) wife. The deal aroused the suspicion that Brigadier Attipoe must have fraudulently acquired the property.

The investigations continue to determine how the diplomat, earning a salary of a little more than US$2,000 a month could have purchased this house, and why he should transfer it, if he has nothing to hide.

The investigators wonder why Brigadier Attipoe did not acquire such a house in Ghana and chose to invest in the United States of America.

In a related development, the Ghana News Agency has reported that the Office of the Auditor-General (AG) says it has very little power to insist on asset declaration by public officers under the constitution.

A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit said the Auditor-General, under Article 286 of the Constitution, is only a custodian of declarations submitted by public office holders affected by the constitutional provision.

It said inquiries from the media and the general public on assets declaration cannot be granted, since the Auditor-General has no such constitutional mandate to divulge whether or not a public officer required to declare his or her assets had done so.

The statement said this could only be done under an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, a Commission of Inquiry or an investigator appointed by the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice.

It further stated that Article 286 (1) enjoins public officers who are required to declare their assets to do so while in office and repeat the exercise at the end of their term of office, but the latter is often overlooked.

The statement said the Audit Service would like to see the establishment of a mechanism that enables the Auditor-General to enforce compliance with the law by the prescribed public office holders, as the present law does not authorise him to do so.

He said the searchlight is usually on Ministers of State and MPs with very little prominence on other public officers.

It urged the media to initiate an information debate on the matter.

"As things stand, the rationale of the call on public officers to declare their assets and liabilities seems defeated if that rationale is intended to offer the public an opportunity to know these assets and liabilities, to ascertain the genuineness or otherwise of their acquisition and to be able to strike a difference between assets and liabilities declared before and after assumption of duty."