MPs rush to declare assets after The Fourth Estate exposé

Ten Members of Parliament (MPs) who were named by The Fourth Estate for failing to comply with Ghana’s asset declaration law have since filed their assets and liabilities with the Auditor-General.

An analysis of asset declaration receipts obtained from the Ghana Audit Service through a Right to Information (RTI) request shows that the MPs submitted their declarations between March 16 and April 15, 2026, shortly after The Fourth Estate published its investigation, “151 MPs violate assets declaration law.”

Five of the lawmakers filed their declarations within 24 hours of the publication, while three did so on the very day the investigation was published.

The March 16 investigation revealed that 151 of Ghana’s 276 MPs had failed to comply with Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act. The defaulters comprised 81 MPs from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), 68 from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), and two independent MPs.

A review of subsequent declaration receipts against the original list of defaulters confirms that at least 10 of the lawmakers have since complied.

Among them are three MPs specifically highlighted in The Fourth Estate‘s investigation as long-serving legislators who had failed to fulfil their constitutional obligation.

They are Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, MP for Takoradi; Kennedy Osei Nyarko, MP for Akim Swedru; and Jerry Ahmed Shaib, MP for Weija-Gbawe and Second Deputy Minority Chief Whip, who was one of five parliamentary leaders singled out in the report for non-compliance.

#	Name	Constituency	Date of Declaration	Party
1	Daniel Keshi Bessey	Sege	March 16, 2026	NDC
2	Rev. Dr. Kweku Addo	Ablekuma West	March 16, 2026	NDC
3	Sedem Kweku Afenyo	Amasaman	March 16, 2026	NDC
4	Frimpong Ohene Kwame	Asante Akim North	March 17, 2026	Independent
5	Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings	Korle Klottey	March 17, 2026	NDC
6	Vincent Ekow Assafuah	Old Tafo	March 19, 2026	NPP
7	Kennedy Osei Nyarko	Akim Swedru	March 24, 2026	NPP
8	Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah	Takoradi	March 24, 2026	NPP
9	Francis Kwabena Owusu-Berepong Akyaw	Juaben	April 9, 2026	NPP
10	Jerry Ahmed Shaib	Weija-Gbawe	April 15, 2026	NPP

The 10 MPs who filed their asset declarations after The Fourth Estate published its investigation. Source: Ghana Audit Service, Assets and Liability Declaration Receipts.

The filings represent the first wave of compliance following the publication of the investigation. Daniel Keshi Bessey, Rev. Dr. Kweku Addo, and Sedem Kweku Afenyo all filed their declarations on the same day the story was published, while two others complied the following day. The list of those who have made the declaration includes the MP for Asante Akim North, who was arrested in the Netherlands in May this year in connection with allegations of money laundering.

Meanwhile, none of the 22 Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and High Court judges, The Fourth Estate flagged for failing to meet the constitutional obligation, have declared their assets.

A familiar trend

This is not the first time The Fourth Estate’s investigations have prompted public office holders to comply with Ghana’s asset declaration law.

In April last year, The Fourth Estate exposed how more than 55 appointees of the new Mahama administration had defaulted in declaring their assets and liabilities. In response, President Mahama caused the appointees to forfeit three months of their salaries while giving them a 48-hour ultimatum to do the needful. 

In February 2023, following a year-long investigation into non-compliance by public officials, 294 political office holders, including 48 MPs, 20 ministers, district chief executives, judges, and heads of state institutions, rushed to file their declarations with the Auditor-General.

That investigation found that only 20 MPs who served in the Seventh and Eighth Parliaments between 2017 and 2021 had fully complied with the asset declaration law, representing a compliance rate of just 7.2%.

Speaking to The Fourth Estate after the March investigation, Executive Director of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Beauty Emefa Nartey, attributed the persistent non-compliance to the absence of effective enforcement.

“The reality is that when eligible declarants perceive little to no consequences for failing to comply with the asset declaration regime, they naturally do not take the process seriously,” she said.

She urged Parliament to pass the Conduct of Public Officers Bill to strengthen the asset declaration regime through verification mechanisms and meaningful sanctions.

141 MPs are still in default

Despite the latest filings, the overwhelming majority of the MPs identified in The Fourth Estate’s investigation remain in breach of the law.

With 10 of the 151 defaulting lawmakers having filed declarations after the publication, at least 141 MPs are yet to comply with the constitutional requirement.

They include the immediate past Defence Minister and Bimbilla MP Dominic Nitiwul and Asutifi South MP Collins Dauda, both veteran legislators serving their sixth and eighth parliamentary terms, respectively. They remain among the lawmakers yet to submit their asset declarations to the Auditor-General.