President Aigbokhan Esq

Assets Declaration President Aigbokhan Esq

Africa governments borrow from donor governments and international banks without remorse just as the towering penchant to divert the resources to private assets and liabilities is on the increase. The center of bliss of aspirations into public office in Africa is in acquisition of assets for generation unborn. One of the ways to limit assets acquisition turning into opportunity for corrupt practices is by assets declaration, publication and probity. In Africa, assets declaration is promoted in public service as a routine documentation exercise without a clear understanding of the policy underlay. The impact of this is that assets is seldom declared correctly and the impression is there that something is done in government to keep records and not necessarily keeping away corruption. This book gives a vivid account of how assets declaration can tame corruption in Africa's public service. Many corruption perception studies persistently show a high degree of citizens' mistrust of Africa governments. Citizens spider's web trust of its government leaves much to be desired. The work is discussed from a comparative perspective with quest to make corruption a high risk and low return adventure. Agree that it takes more than a surgery to separate public officers from mistrust as assets declaration is only a starting point of influencing the behavior of public officers to coast towards public trust. According to the writer, civil society organizations (CSOs) must come up with an annual evaluation of compliance with assets declaration, but first must enrich public understanding of how assets declaration can tame graft and fortify a model public service. The writer advocates for assets publication to be embedded into World Bank criteria for the grant of loan to nations.