16 Aug 2021

Parliament has passed the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Bill (Amendment Bill) of 2020 that seeks to amend the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act.

The bill will effect into law once the President has appended his signature.

The Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act No. 12 of 2019 was assented into law on August 2019 and among other things, makes provision for the declaration of assets and liabilities of certain categories of persons for the purpose of preventing and detecting corruption, money laundering and the acquisition of property from proceeds of crime.

Amendments to the new law would close gaps in the current act. Amendments will ensure that, in order that there is certainity, all those to whom the act applies will be listed under Section 3 of the act.

The new law will also ensure that the obligation to submit declarations in the disciplined forces should start from the rank equivalent to deputy director, which in the case of the army was Lieutenant Colonel and not colonel as appears in the current act.

It will further ensure that there is clarity regarding persons who submit their declarations to the Permanent Secretary to the President.

Those involved in procurement would be compelled to declare their interest, in line with government’s efforts to curb corruption relating to the award of public tenders.

Application of the act to procurement officers is one of the ways by which government seeks to fight corruption.

“It has been realised that in terms of best practice declarations are to be made regularly otherwise we may not succeed in fighting corruption as a country. I therefore intend to move an amendment at Committee Stage to retain the 24 months interval for submission of declarations,” he said.

Mayors and chairpersons of local authorities would be required to declare to the minister responsible for local government while the director-general of the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity and Corruption and Economic Crime would now be required to declare to the President, and not to the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration.

Further, penalties for using information contained in declarations for purposes other than those intended by the Act , have been aligned and fines for all offences would not exceed P500 000 and terms of imprisonment would not exceed 10 years. ENDS