President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has lauded Acting Auditor General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, for his work in the fight against corruption and said he covered areas his predecessor could not go.
Mr. Asiedu replaced the contentious Daniel Yao Domelevo, whose exit made headlines in the country in March.
The President appeared to aim a subtle jab at Mr. Domelevo when he said Mr. Asiedu had done what his predecessor (Domelevo), who many held in high esteem, could not do.
President Akufo-Addo said Mr. Asiedu has demonstrated the quality of work and independence of view so far, and hinted that it will not be out of place to confirm him as the substantive Auditor General.
Anti-Corruption Meeting
The President made the comment on Wednesday evening when he met the leadership of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and the National Civil Society Groups working on governance issues at the Jubilee House.
He said in his view, Mr. Asiedu’s efforts are clear indications of his professionalism and readiness to fight against corruption.
“The Acting Auditor General has demonstrated sufficient quality and independence of view. For instance, he is responsible for some things that are unheard of. In our history, the 12 statutory reports that have to be compiled and placed before Parliament, in the years of Parliament, this is the first time it has ever been done.
“Even the most touted Auditor General before him never managed to do it and this one has done it. I think on the basis of the work that he has done, the independence with which he has gone around with his work, if today efforts are made to confirm him, I believe it should be done, and that confirmation process will gather more public support,” the President indicated.
Corruption Perception
Chairman of the GACC, Nana Osei-Bonsu, raised issues about corruption perception, need for constitutional review and the need to deepen local governance.
President Akufo-Addo in response reiterated his government’s credentials and commitment to the fight against corruption and related practices.
He said the agencies of state tasked with the mandate to fight corruption such as Parliament (the legislature), the courts (judiciary), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the police and many more institutions of state if they are not performing, should not be entirely the responsibility of the executive but rather a collective effort to ensure things go on well.
Resourcing Institutions
He said his government has resourced such institutions and agencies to be able to perform their respective roles aside guaranteeing them their total independence from any control or influence.
That notwithstanding, the President said he has not shirked his responsibility in the fight against corruption and would not retreat in the effort in the interest of Ghanaians.
“I don’t think that any government had mobilised resources to give opportunity to for the anti-corruption agencies of the state to function efficiently as possible as this government has done. It is a matter of record,” he insisted.
On the issue of the current report of the Auditor General’s office, the President assured that government was acting on some of the findings to act upon it.
That, he said, it would be prudent to give all affected persons the opportunity to respond to the issues raised in the report against them in the interest of fairness before an action can be taken.
Contentious AG
In April, President Akufo-Addo, whilst speaking on CNN, rebutted criticisms that his government axed the former Auditor General, Mr. Domelevo because his government was not committed to the corruption fight.
The President then said Mr. Domelevo left office by “the operation of the law,” and nobody can accuse him of forcing the then Auditor General out of office.
He stated that Mr. Domelevo attained the mandatory retirement age of 60, which every public officer is enjoined to follow, and that the presidency acted within the confines of law.
“The Auditor General, like me, should be some of the first to recognise the laws in our country,” the President told CNN, adding “there is a time for retiring, which is described by statutes.”
The President said “it is not my making. He was 60 years old and he was no longer supposed to be able to work in the public service. The Auditor General came to 60 years old and had to retire and I say so in respect to the claim he was forced out by the government.”
Domelevo Posture
The posture of Mr. Domelevo prior to leaving office divided opinions in the country.
In Early March, the Audit Service Board revealed that Mr. Domelevo passed the age (60) needed to remain in office but some civil society organisations (CSOs) jumped to his defence, creating the impression that the controversial Auditor General was being hounded out of office.
Mr. Domelevo had just returned to post after serving his 167 days mandatory leave on the orders of the presidency in 2020, when the board chaired by Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman raised the alarm that Mr. Domelevo had passed the retirement age and needed to bow out of the service.
According to Prof. Agyeman, initially when they wrote to Mr. Domelevo to come clean on his age, he (Domelevo) rubbished the board but when the board wrote a second letter attaching incontrovertible evidence that he had crossed the retirement age, he started telling “stories.”
Letters Battle
The Audit Service Board in a letter to Mr. Domelevo dated February 26, 2021 indicated that “records at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) completed and signed by you indicate your date of birth as June 1, 1960 when you joined the scheme on October 1, 1978. The records show that you stated your tribe as Togolese and a non-Ghanaian. That your hometown is Agbatofe.”
“On October 25, 1992, you completed and signed a SSNIT Change of Beneficiary Nomination form, stating your nationality as a Ghanaian and your hometown as Ada in the Greater Accra Region. The date of birth on your Ghanaian passport number A45800, issued on February 28, 1996 is June 1, 1961. That place of birth is stated as Kumasi, Ashanti Region,” the correspondence stated.
Mr. Domelevo then rejected the claims and said “Either my father wrongly mentioned Agbatofe in Togo as his hometown to me, or I misconstrued it at the time…My mother is also Ghanaian.”
He then said he noticed that the 1960 date of birth was a mistake “when I checked my information in the baptismal register of the Catholic Church in Adeemmra.”
Interesting Permutation
Per the records bandied about, it meant that Mr. Domelevo might have been 17 years when he entered official government employment in 1978, that is if he was born in 1961 and 18 years, if he was born in 1960.
CSOs ‘Fight’
He was subsequently retired by the presidency but the CSOs cried foul and impugned at a press conference that the retirement of the Auditor General was indicative of the President’s loss of interest in the fight against corruption and made bizarre claims that the President’s action against Mr. Domelevo was in breach of Article 23 of the Constitution.
Presidential Rebuttal
In the ensuing heat, however, the President fired back at the CSOs and described as erroneous the suggestion that Mr. Domelevo was hounded out of office.
In a 21-page rebuttal signed by Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, in late March, the President said that it was erroneous for the CSOs to hold the view that because Mr. Domelevo was asked to proceed on his retirement, he was not committed to the fight against corruption.
The statement had said, “He was not targeted or chased out of office as has been wrongfully suggested in the public domain.
“Those leading the charge against the President should know better,” and added that “civil discourse of this nature, has been based on untruths, deliberate misconstruction of the facts and in complete disregard for the rule of law that we, as Ghanaians, have subscribed to.”
The President also talked about the bizarre manner in which Mr. Domelevo was appointed by his predecessor and the commitment of the NPP government in resourcing the Audit Service to function effectively.
The presidency then encouraged Ghanaians to hinge their public discourses on accurate facts rather than “misleading the good people of Ghana with wrong facts, conjectures and politicised speculation.”
By Charles Taky-Boadu