Prez Mahama fines appointees for failing to declare assets and liabilities after The Fourth Estate’s exposé

President John Dramani Mahama’s appointees who defied his directives to declare their assets and liabilities before March 31, 2025, will lose three months’ salary as punishment.

The President has also given these defaulting ministers a new lifeline: May 7, 2025, to comply or be fired.

This follows an investigation by The Fourth Estate titled “ASSET DECLARATION: 55 Appointees & Staffers Defy Mahama’s Order.… Will the President go by his words, or it was just an empty threat?”

The investigative report revealed widespread non-compliance among ministers, presidential staffers, and heads of state institutions.

It chronicled how fifty-five appointees and staffers in the Mahama administration had failed to declare their assets despite a March 31, 2025, deadline issued by the President.

The publication was greeted with widespread public outcry, with some calling on President Mahama to dismiss the appointees who have defied his directive.

Five days later, the president has responded.

Speaking at the launch of a new Code of Conduct for his appointees at the Flagstaff House on Monday, May 5, 2025, the President said all affected appointees will forfeit three months’ salary as punishment for failing to meet the March 31 deadline he set earlier this year.

“On February 18, 2025, I set a deadline of March 31 for all appointees who had taken office or had been nominated at the time to declare their assets,” the President said.

”An update provided by the Audit Service to my office indicates that some of you failed to meet that deadline.”

President Mahama announced that the forfeited salaries would be donated to a newly established Ghana Medical Trust Fund named after him—‘Mahama Cares’—designed to support specialist-level treatment for a wide range of chronic illnesses, including cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney failure, stroke, and others.

“In addition to the one-month salary that I have asked all appointees to donate to the Mahama Cares Trust Fund, it means those who failed to declare their assets by the deadline are paying a total of four months’ salary to the fund,” he clarified.

However, the President warned that stiffer sanctions awaited those who still had not complied.

“If by close of day, Wednesday, 7th May 2025, any of you still fails to declare your assets, count yourself automatically dismissed,” he cautioned.

President Mahama emphasised that the asset declaration regime remains one of the most powerful legal tools in the fight against corruption and abuse of office.

He described the law, anchored in Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and Act 550, as a non-negotiable requirement for all public officials, regardless of rank.

“The asset declaration regime is an important mechanism to check corruption and abuse of office, and it must be respected by all,” he said.

Background

President Mahama publicly declared his assets and liabilities on February 18, 2025, and directed all his appointees to do the same by March 31, 2025, warning that failure to comply would attract severe sanctions, including dismissal.

This was meant to demonstrate a commitment to transparency and enforce Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998 (Act 550), which require public officials to declare their assets and liabilities either before or shortly after assuming office.

However, investigations by The Fourth Estate reveal that as of April 17, 2025—nearly a month after the deadline—32% of the President’s appointees had failed to comply. These include 55 ministers, deputy ministers, presidential staffers, and heads of state institutions appointed between January 15 and March 18.

High-profile defaulters include Presidential Adviser, Seth Terkper; Special Envoy to the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Larry Gbevlo-Lartey; Director of Operations at the Presidency, Nathan Kofi Boakye;  Director of National Investigations Bureau (NIB), Charles Kipo; Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhassan Suhuyini; Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui; and Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo.

The  Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Anthony Kwasi Sarpong and Dr. Peter Otukunor, head of Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture, were also cited through the data The Fourth Estate obtained from the Audit Service through a Right to Information (RTI) request.

Former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo criticised the failure to comply, stating that appointees are constitutionally mandated to declare their assets before taking office. While he disagreed with the president’s assumption deadline, he insisted the directive should have at least been respected.

“If I were the president, you’re gone—nothing will save you,” he fired!

Scores of Ghanaians believe that the widespread non-compliance raises serious questions about accountability and the political will to enforce anti-corruption laws within the new administration.

During President Mahama’s first term from  January 2013 to January  2017, at least 11 of his ministers never declared their assets.