The Director of Policy Research at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Kojo Asante has criticised the President’s decision to ask the Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo to proceed on his accumulated leave.
Dr. Asante at a press conference was unhappy that the President ignored other options that would have allowed the Auditor-General to independently discharge his duties without any interference.
“It is disappointing that the President chose only one option when this matter was brought to his attention. On the whole, there were other options that could have mitigated the interference of the work of the Auditor-General and none was taken.”
Leave directive
President Akufo-Addo had earlier directed Mr. Domelevo to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 123 working days.
But the Office of the President later added 44 more working days to the 132 annual leave days after Mr. Domelevo, in a letter to the Presidency, urged Akufo-Addo to reconsider the directive, claiming that it breaches the labour law and is unconstitutional.
Mr. Domelevo had made use of nine out of his 132 annual leave days since assuming office in December 2016.
The Presidency said the directive was based on sections 20 (1) and 31 of the Labour Act, 2003 (651).
Suspicions of bad faith
As part of the directive, Mr. Domelevo is to hand over his responsibilities to the Deputy Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah.
But he feels such a move would have “serious implications for the constitutional independence of the office of the Auditor-General.”
Mr. Domelevo said he had observed that his work was “embarrassing the government” based on the posturing of some ministers and correspondence he had had with the Chairman of the Audit Service Board who he noted works at the Office of the Senior Minister.
He also noted that several appointees of the President have not taken their annual leave since 2017.
“The directive, therefore, that I proceed on leave, oblivious of the other workers similarly circumstanced, gives the impression that the decision is not taken in good faith,” he added.
