Gov’t will pay dearly for sacking Domelevo – Kofi Bentil

The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil has said the Akufo-Addo led administration would suffer consequences for forcefully ousting Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo from his role as the Auditor-General of Ghana.

This comes after the Presidency in a response to Civil Society Organisations (CSO) against corruption on the back of concerns raised said, Mr. Domelevo allegiance at work was to former President Mahama and not Ghana insisting that his decision to retire him is justified.

“After losing the election, it became necessary for former President Mahama to change his nomination for Auditor General, with the sole aim of saddling the then-President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, with an Auditor General whose allegiance was to former President Mahama, instead of the nation,” the statement indicated.

Reacting to this on News File hosted by Samson Lardy Anyenini on Joy News last Saturday, Kofi Bentil said the motive by government to switch the narrative from  the main issue is a breach of the laws of the state and a travesty of Ghana’s fight against corruption.

“This [Domelevo] is the best we have had when it comes to the potential to make people who are corrupt pay back. Reading the documents that have been published all over the place, I’m quite convinced that it is clear to the persons who did this to Daniel Domelevo that, the public sees this move as running out Domelevo who generally is considered to be the best Auditor General we’ve had in this country, and the explanations have not helped them.

“This Auditor-General has shown that he was prepared to take the corruption fight to the next level and this action to stop him may seem to have succeeded now but I honestly think that this government is going to pay a price for it.”

Background

On March 3, 2021, President Akufo-Addo directed the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo to proceed on retirement.

This came less than 16 hours after he returned from a 167-day accumulated leave.

The directive, according to a statement signed by Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, stems from an indication by the Audit Service Board that Mr Domelevo has exceeded the eligible age to remain in the workforce.

“The attention of the President of the Republic has been drawn to records and documents made available to this Office by the Audit Service, that indicate that your date of birth is 1st June, 1960, and that in accordance with article 199 (1) of the Constitution, your date of retirement as Auditor-General was 1st June, 2020.”

The statement explained that “based on this information, the President is of the view that you have formally left office.”