Executive Director for Parliamentary Network Africa (PNA), Sammy Obeng has disclosed that they wish the Supreme Court had settled the case of President Akufo Addo compelling the former Auditor General to proceed on leave at the time Domelevo was in office.
“It’s been long, It’s sad the issue started in May 2020 and we went to court in the later days of October 2020. It can be recalled that our case was called one and half years after we had filled the suit whereas we were very positive and as Civil Society Organisations we thought that this was a case that was time bound.
“We would have wished that the case could have been expedited so that the very justice that was sought could have been achieved so that not only the unconstitutional action of the President pointed out but also to have justice done to for Mr. Daniel Domelevo but unfortunately we lost one” Sammy Obeng told Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show.
The former Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo was asked to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 123 days starting Wednesday, July 1, 2023 leading into his retirement against his will. This incident attracted a lot of debates and objections from some Civil Society Organisations.
PNA and eight other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) took the matter to court wanting the Supreme Court to rule that the President’s directive was inconsistent with or was in contravention of the letter and spirit of Article 187(7)(a) of the Constitution, 1992.
The Attorney General’s Office along with the office of the Auditor-General and Johnson Akuamoah who was appointed as the acting Auditor-General as defendants.
However after about two and half years in court, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 31 has ruled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s directive that compelled Domelevo to proceed on his accumulated leave and the subsequent appointment of an Acting Auditor-General was unconstitutional.
According to the Executive Director of PNA, the fight was not about Domelevo but the office of the Auditor General and it was about how to ensure power-hungry persons who have been given authority not to abuse that authority in the name of an earlier wrong precedent.
‘’We are happy that we as Civil Society Organisations didn’t act as spectators but as citizens; not only talking about it on radio, television and press conferences but were able to go to the right forum for the right thing to be done” he said.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana