How Atta Mills’ Dua Agyeman's forced leave differs from Akufo-Addo's order of leave for Domelevo

The Supreme Court of Ghana, on May 31, 2023, ruled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s directive for former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo to proceed on forced leave, in 2020, was unconstitutional.

Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have praised the court; saying that Akufo-Addo forced Domelevo to leave his post because he was covering up some acts of corruption in his government.

However, proponents of the government and members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), who are also praising the court, argue that President Akufo-Addo did nothing wrong because he was only following a precedence set by his predecessor, the late Prof John Evans Atta Mills.

The supporters of the government say that if Akufo-Addo is corrupt for the action he took then the late Prof Mills is also corrupt for asking the former Auditor-General Prof Edward Dua Agyeman to proceed on leave.

This article seeks to put some perspective on the circumstances surrounding the directive for the two former Auditor-Generals to proceed on leave.

Details of directives for leave:

The directives for the two former auditor generals to proceed on leave seem to be similar.

The letters to both Prof Dua Agyeman and Domelevo were both issued by the secretary to the president and in fact, had the same wording.

“The records show that you have accumulated leave of approximately 264 days. I am directed by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills, to request that you take said leave with effect from Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

“His Excellency further directs that you hand over all matters relating to the office of the Auditor-General to Mr Richard Quartey, Deputy Auditor-General, who is by copy of this letter, requested to act as Auditor-General until further notice,” the letter to Prof Dua Agyeman reads in part.

The letter to Domelevo also reads in part: “According to the records available to this office, you have accumulated annual leave of 123 working days. I am, thus, directed by the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to request that you take your accumulated annual leave of 123 working days with effect from Wednesday, 1st July 2020”.

“The President further directs that you hand over all matters relating to the office of the Auditor-General to Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, Deputy Auditor-General, who, by copy of this letter, is requested to act as Auditor-General until your return from leave.”

Age/Retirement

There were no arguments about Prof Dua Agyeman’s age when he was asked to proceed on leave by Prof Millls. Records show that he was well above the retirement age for public servants which is 60 years.

However, for Yao Domelevo, his age was a matter of contention when he was asked to proceed on leave.

The management board of the Audit Service, which was chaired by Prof Dua Agyeman, challenged the nationality and age of Domelevo.

The Board said that his own Social Security and National Insurance Trust records showed he is a Togolese and not a Ghanaian and was also due for retirement.

The Board, in a series of correspondence with Mr Domelevo, said he was born in 1960 per his own records and, thus, should have gone on retirement in mid-2020.

In his reply, Mr Domelevo explained that his grandfather, Augustine Domelevo, was a native of Ada in the Greater Accra Region but migrated to Togo and stayed at Agbatofe.

“Either my father wrongly mentioned Agbatofe in Togo as his home town to me, or I misconstrued it at the time”, Mr Domelevo explained, adding: “My mother is also a Ghanaian”.

Concerning his date of birth, Mr Domelevo said he noticed that the 1960 date of birth was a mistake when “I checked my information in the baptismal register of the Catholic Church in Adeemmra.”

“The register has Yaw as part of my name and also provides my date of birth as 1st June 1961 – this corresponds with Thursday or Yaw – the day of the week on which I was born.”

Ruling of Supreme Court on Prof Mills’ directive for Prof Dua Agyeman to proceed on leave:

Prof Mills’ directive for Prof Dua Agyeman to proceed on his accumulative leave, like Akufo-Addo’s order to Domelevo, was challenged in court by P.C. Appiah Ofori, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa Constituency in the Central Region.

P.C. Ofori was seeking “a declaration that by the combined effect of Articles 17, 70, 71, 144, 145, 146 and 187 of the 1992 Constitution, and on a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution, the retirement age of the Auditor-General is comparable to, and in pari materia to that of a Justice of the Court of Appeal.”

In other words, he wanted the court to declare the directive of Prof Mills for Prof Dua Agyeman to proceed on leave unconstitutional.

The court presided over by the then Chief Justice, Her Lordship Georgina Theodora Wood, by a majority of six to three, decided that the Auditor-General was a public officer under Article 199, and therefore should retire at the age of 60.

Circumstances’

When Prof Mills ‘legally removed’ Prof Dua Agyeman, as Auditor General, there were no major corruption scandals.

But before the removal of Domelevo, there were major issues in the Akufo-Addo government, he was investigating.

Domelevo claimed that the current Senior Advisor to the President, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, when he was Senior Minister, colluded with the Finance Ministry to pay UK firm, Kroll and Associates Limited, US$1 million for no evidence of work done.

However, the acting Auditor-General(A-G), Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, a day after Daniel Domelevo began his 167 days ‘forced’ leave, cleared Osafo-Maafo of any wrong doing.

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