Mohammed Wehliye, a senior advisor at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, has emphasized the necessity for state officials to provide proof of their declared net worth. His comments come in light of the ongoing vetting process for Cabinet Secretaries who are disclosing their net worth.
Wehliye, a seasoned economist and financial expert who has previously served as Senior Vice President and Head of Financial Risk Management, believes that simply declaring net worth is inadequate. He argues that this practice opens the door to corruption by allowing individuals to inflate their declarations.
“Declaring your net worth shouldn’t be enough. State officers should provide proof of these assets and how they acquired them. You might be worth 50 million and be declaring 500 million, giving yourself a corruption headroom of 450 million. Also, how you acquired what you own is important,” he stated on his X account.
Wehliye also expressed concerns about the vetting process, criticizing Parliament for not enforcing the constitutional requirements of proper vetting.
He feels that the process has become a mere formality rather than a rigorous examination of the nominees’ qualifications and integrity.
“What Parliament is doing during this vetting exercise is merely engaging in a compliance exercise rather than enforcing the constitutional requirements of properly vetting folks who will have access to trillions of shillings of public money,” he stated.
The Parliament is currently vetting the new cabinet nominees appointed by President William Ruto.
