Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission of the Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has called for the publication of assets declared by public office holders in Ghana.

According to him, such a move will empower Ghanaians to monitor the lifestyle of public office holders as part of the fight against corruption.

He observed in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra 100.5FM on Thursday, that the current practice where the assets declared are kept secret is not helpful in the fight against corruption. Therefore, he believes that there should be a change in the practice to make the declared assets public.

He said: “It is extremely important in the fight against corruption. When we know what has been declared by the pubic officers before they get into office, we will be able to properly hold them accountable or question them when there is any suspicion that they have acquired properties wrongly.

“Without a proper asset declaration regime we can’t trace and track the officers to find out how they managed to acquire their properties. Even when they actually declare their assets, we can’t also ascertain whether they reflect the reality because we are not privy to the content. We need to publish the assets in the dailies in the spirit of transparency and accountability.”