The Office of the Director of Public Officers Declarations, says it is still compiling names of public officers who have so far declared their assets, as stipulated by the law, and the names will be announced soon.

According to Public Officers Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interest Act of 2013, public officers are mandated to declare their assets annually and failure to comply they risk losing their positions.

Meanwhile, a week has elapsed since this year’s exercise came to an end but the office is yet to announce the names of public officers who have declared their assets and those who have not complied as stipulated in the Act.

Deputy Director for the Office of Director of Public Officers Declarations, Michael Chiusiwa said the public should hold their patience as the names will be announced in few weeks’ time.

Chiusiwa said: “Currently we are looking into who exactly have declared and who haven’t and how many assets have been declared and very soon we will be aggregating and tabulating and the public will know all the information in two to three weeks’ time.”

He said this year’s declaration exercise which was conducted from July 1 – 30 was a success as compared to previous years, saying now people are able to understand the importance of declaring their assets.

However Chiusiwa revealed that there are some officers whom due to other applicable reasons have communicated to the office of declaration that they have failed to meet the deadline.

In 2013 the Public Officers Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interest Act was published, and it requires public officers to declare their assets annually.

In 2014, the Office of the Director of Public Officers Declarations was established and since then it has been inviting public officers each and every year to declare their assets.

Section 18(1) of the Act stipulates that if a public officer fails to submit the required declaration without reasonable cause within the time determined by the Act, he or she is liable to be dismissed from public office.

YFM