Directorate To Civic Educate Listed Public Officers On Asset Declaration Process

Christopher Tukula

The office of the Director for Public Officers Asset Declaration says it faced number of problems in 2014 during the Initial Asset Declarations process, as new Government financial year is to begin in July next year, the office is making some early preparations for the Annual Declaration Update Excercise.

The Directorate of Asset Declaration says is geared to intensify civic education of the Asset Declaration Process among listed officers in preparation for the commencement of annual update to the declared assets.

Director of Asset Declaration Christopher Tukula disclosed that the directorate wants to begin the exercise very early starting this year so that listed officers should not have problems when they start to submit forms of updates to their declared assets in July next year.

Tukula says this early preparations follows the hurdles the process of asset declaration faced in 2014 when the officers were for the first time declaring their assets.

Tukula said“We want to improve on the performance of the last time whereby we want to intensify civic education of the asset declaration process. We have lined up series of briefing meetings with public officers and we are going to distribute the blank declaration forms directly to all the listed public officers." 

"Last time people were looking around for the forms own their own. For now we are going to issue them with copy of their declaration and blank declaration forms  and are going to use this for the purpose of giving an update to their declarations in July next year.” explains Tukula

He indicated that the receipt of declarations is an annual exercise under the act and that from 1st July next year the office will be receiving declarations from public officers as an update of what they had disclosed last year.

The Assets Declarations Directors said his office is notifying the listed officers along way before hand in order for the Directorate to have an ample time to extensively engage all public officers on the declaration process and enhance the civic education component of the process prior to the statutorily defined submission dates.

In readiness, the directorate says distribution of Copies of Initial Declaration and Blank Annual Declarations and briefing meetings are among the lined up activities.

The Initial Declaration is statutorily followed by Annual Declaration update return that is filed within thirty days after the commencement of each fiscal year.

He said each officer will be required to submit a duly completed, signed and commissioned Annual Declaration Form as an update return to the Initial Declaration which was already submitted. He said the submission shall commence on Friday, 1st July 2016 to Sunday, 31st July, 2016.  

Currently, 10, 200 (ten thousand two hundred) listed public officers who were serving in various positions when the Act became effective on 1st July 2014 submitted their Initial Declarations between 1st October and 31st December 2014. 

The receipt of Initial Declarations is ongoing for all public officers being appointed or promoted into listed positions.

The office of the Director of Public Officer’s Asset Declaration began its operations in August 2014. The overall objective of the declaration regime is to promote public confidence in the public service. The office was set up following passing of the Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interests Act of 2013.