President Nana Akufo-Addo has terminated the appointment of the Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo.
The President fired Mr Domelevo based on an indication by the Audit Service Board that Mr Domelevo has exceeded the eligible age to remain in active service.
‘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’, Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President stated in a letter dated March 3, 2021 addressed to Mr Domelevo.
It added that ‘based on the information the President is of the view that you have formally left office’.
In view of this, Johnson Akuamoa-Asiedu, Deputy AG will continue to act as Auditor-General until the President appoints a substantive head.
Domelevo’s sack linked with his fight against corruption
Some civil society groups and a section of the public believe Daniel Yao Domelevo has been kicked out of office due to political reasons and an attempt to prevent him from discharging his anti-corruption mandate.
They assume his woes began following his decision to take on government appointee, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo over the Kroll and Associate contract.
In 2017, the Senior Minister, on behalf of the government, signed a contract with Kroll and Associates for the firm to do value-for-money auditing on some projects, identify wrongdoers and recover the assets of the said wrongdoers.
Kroll was reportedly paid $1 million.
However, following an audit of the accounts of the Ministry of Finance, the Auditor-General came to a conclusion that Kroll and Associates had been paid for no work done.
Daniel Yao Domelevo, then the Auditor-General pursued the matter in court. The Accra High Court struck out a $1 million surcharge he issued against Osafo-Maafo and five others.
Controversy over Domelevo’s age and nationality
Chairman of the Audit Service Board, Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman and Mr Domelevo have exchanged words over the original birth date and nationality of the latter.
The Board alleged that per records at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) provided by the Auditor-General,his date of birth was 1960 when he joined the scheme on October 1, 1978.
The records further showed that Mr. Domelevo’s hometown is Agbetofe in Togo thus making him non-Ghanaian but on October 25, 1993, some changes were made.
The Audit Service Board noted that Domelevo’s the date of birth changed to June 1, 1961. The hometown of the Auditor-General was also changed to Ada in the Greater Accra Region.
Read the President’s letter to Daniel Yao Domelevo below.
SOURCE: Kasatintin.com
Editor’s Note: Article written with extra materials of from myjoyonline.com, citinewsroom, grahiconline
