By Wezzie Gausi:
Ward councillors are among the culprits when it comes to declaring their assets, The Daily Times can reveal.
This is contained in a report compiled by the Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations (ODPOD).
According to the report, which covers the 2024-25 financial year and has since been presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Appointments, there are currently 18,815 listed public officers who are required by law to declare assets and interests from 206 public institutions.
The report indicates that out of these, 15,553 officers submitted declarations for the 2024-25 financial year, representing an 83 percent compliance rate, while 3,262 officers defaulted.
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The report shows that in political category, which includes Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament and councillors, recorded a 91 percent compliance rate.
Out of 29 Cabinet members who were expected to declare assets, 28 complied while one defaulted, representing a 97 percent compliance rate.
Among lawmakers, 185 out of 193 legislators submitted declarations, representing a 96 percent compliance rate.
Councillors recorded the lowest compliance rate within the political category, with 361 declarations submitted out of 459 expected submissions, translating to a 79 percent compliance rate.
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This means lawmakers beat councillors in compliance-level terms.
At ministerial level, all 21 government ministries submitted staff returns for verification.
However, ministries achieved an average compliance rate of 79 percent.
This means ministries and councillors were at par, in terms of compliance levels.
The Ministry of Agriculture emerged as the best-performing ministry with a 98 percent compliance rate while the Ministry of Mining recorded the lowest compliance rate at 56 percent.
Despite the growing number of defaulters, ODPOD Director Michael Chiusiwa, who appeared before committee members yesterday, admitted that the office did not have prosecutorial powers to directly punish officers who fail to declare assets.
He said the office could only recommend sanctions to relevant authorities after identifying non-compliant officers or suspicious declarations.
Chiusiwa said the institution still faced resistance from some public officers who fear that declarations could be used for political witch-hunting.
“Some public officers still feel that ODPOD was instituted as a witch-hunting tool but we always tell them that this institution is accountable to Parliament through this committee, which has members from all political parties,” he said.
Public Appointments Committee Chairperson Joshua Malango said they expected the institution to continue strengthening transparency systems in the public service while ensuring that compliance levels improve across all institutions.
