The expression that the retired Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, was forced out of office should not be used, with the greatest of respect, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has advised.
“He was not forced out of office. He left office by the operation of law,” the President insisted.
President Akufo-Addo expressed these sentiments on CNN in an exclusive interview with Zain Asher on Monday, May 3.
The CNN news anchor wanted to know the circumstances that led to the vacancy at the Auditor General’s Office following the controversial retirement of Mr Domelevo, who was considered as a chief anti-graft official while in office.
“There are laws in our country and the Auditor General, like me, should be some of the first to recognise the laws of our country,” the president answered in defence of the directive to Mr Domelevo to proceed on retirement.
“There’s a time for retiring which is prescribed by statute, not my making. If you are 60 years old, you are no longer supposed to be able to work in the public service. The Auditor General came to 60 years old and he had to retire,” President Akufo-Addo stressed.
“And so the expression – and I say so with the greatest respect – of forcing out. . .he was not forced out of office. He left office by the operation of law.”
The retirement of Mr Domelevo took a rather controversial turn because it came on the heels of a directive from the Presidency for him to go on accumulated leave.
There was a back-and-forth correspondence with the Presidency.
A letter written by Executive Secretary to the President Nana Asante Bediatuo on Wednesday, March 6 asked Mr Domelevo to retire based on records and documents made available by the Audit Service.
The president also talked about a number of issues including the delay in vaccines for Ghana despite the country being first to take delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccines under the COVAX facility.
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana