Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee, a law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has maintained that conflict of interest is clearly defined in the 1992 Constitution, contrary to the views of Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
“A public officer shall not put himself/herself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of the office,” the constitution states in Article 284.
However, Justice Emile Short had lamented that conflict of interest is not defined in the constitution, neither is the scope but Mrs Kasser-Tee insisted that “it is a clear definition of what conflict of interest is, also Act 29 of the Criminal Act makes it a crime for a public officer to put himself or herself in situation where their personal interest will conflict with the performance of their duty.
“Conflict of interest is defined and the constitution does not need to go ahead to ingrain the scope because the common law is not lacking in that aspect.”
Their comments follow allegations of corruption and conflict of interest leveled against Adjenim Boateng Adjei, the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority in which freelance investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, in a documentary revealed how the embattled Mr Adjei used his company, Talent Discovery Limited, to bid for government contracts and sell same.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has since suspended Mr Adjei and petitioned the CHRAJ to investigate him and the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has also written to the suspended Mr Adjei to report to his office on August 29, 2019. -myjoyonline.com