Daniel Yaw Domelevo, former Auditor-General, has attributed the surge in corruption and corruption-related offenses in the country to less punitive measures and weaknesses in the system to apprehend perpetrators.
He said that when there is no control mechanism to track the activities of citizens, people are likely to take advantage of the situation.
The former Auditor-General, in a separate interview, noted that “he fought corruption and corruption fought back.” He was dismissed from office by President Akufo-Addo under bizarre circumstances.
Domelevo, in an interview on Hot Issues on Sunday, March 17, noted, amongst other things, that if people are not punished for engaging in financial malpractice, it will embolden others to join.
“Wherever people find opportunities, they would like to misbehave or abuse the opportunity if the controls are not working. And if there are no consequences for financial malpractices, if people think they can get away with it, it will continue,” the former Auditor-General Yaw Domelevo told the host, Keminni Amanor.
He added that “the system has not been set up clearly to ensure that it doesn’t matter who you are if you go contrary to the rules, sanctions will be administered on you. That is why I think that the level of impunity is growing all the time.”
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He emphasised that where there is no deterrence for misbehaviour, people turn to misbehave.
He further stressed that Ghanaians respect the rules and behave properly when they travel to other jurisdictions, such as the USA and UK, amongst others, simply because the systems work.
“The same Ghanaian who travels to London or the US today, without any orientation, starts behaving rightly because he/she knows that this system would not tolerate me,” he stated.
He continued by stating that when it comes to the system working, it starts from the top, which is the President.
“Discipline cannot be enforced from below, it comes from the top,” adding that “the tone from the top actually determines whether the people are going to take it or not.”
He also cited Rwanda, where he said, “The tone is clear that if you misbehave, you will face it so everyone is doing what is right.”
However, the former Auditor-General accused the Akufo-Addo government of engaging in selective application of disciplinary actions as far as the fight against corruption is concerned.
“The promises or the rhetoric are far higher than what we are seeing on the ground and of course disciplinary measures are swiftly put in place against those who do not belong to the group but there are some people for whom we can clearly see that they are committing atrocities or infractions and they continuously get away with it,” he stated.