NPP is deliberately intimidating Domelevo – Apaak

Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South constituency in the Upper East Region Dr. Clement Apaak has asserted that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is being antagonistic towards the Auditor General in order to cover their wrongdoing.

Dr. Apaak wondered why the Auditor General Daniel Yaw Domelevo, a strong anti-corruption personality would be subjected to attacks and threats of removal under a so-called incorruptible President.

“As a member of the public accounts committee of parliament, I find it worrisome and indeed unacceptable for members of the executive, leading members of the ruling NPP, and thier members of Parliament, to continue attacking Domelevo for doing his work. Is it because they have a LOT to hide?

Is it not obvious, as I’ve stated many times, that the Nana Addo NPP government has an agenda to intimidate Domelevo and or to get rid of him because he has been bold in doing his work, and has refused to overlook or hide the rot/corruption under the watch of the so-called incorruptible President Nana Akufo-Addo?

Ask yourself, why would such a bold, fearless and straight forward Auditor General determined to fight corruption and or hold public officials/officers accountable be subjected to vicious attacks and plots under the reign of a President claimed by his apologists to be incorruptible?” he wrote in a statement sighted by MyNewsGh.com.

The Auditor General has come under heavy criticism and backlash following the release of a performance audit report conducted on the Ghana Educational Trust Fund Scholarship, naming some politicians, media personalities and relatives of government officials as beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme between 2012 and 2018.

This latest report comes after the Auditor-General indicted the Ministry of Finance and the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo for paying a UK firm, Kroll and Associates Limited to recover assets from identified wrongdoers, among others, without verifying outcomes, in 2017.

The recent works of the AG have generated varying responses and a law suit by the Senior Minister.

This in the view of the Builsa South NDC MP Clement Apaak demonstrates a grand scheme to intimidate the Auditor General saying “The Auditor General, Domelevo, must be commended and supported for his bold and fearlessness in executing his mandate granted him by the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

In fact, he is not answerable to anyone, including the appointing authority. And why must he not make his findings public? Which law debarred him from doing so?

Just as in the case of his adverse findings on the basis of information provided/denied him by the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Senior Minister, which resulted in his conclusions that 1 million dollars was paid to Kroll and Associates for no work done, and for which reason he has surcharged the Senior Minister, so too does he have the power to publish and surcharge beneficiaries of GetFund scholarships who should not have benefitted based on the evidence made available to him. It’s as simple as that.

Those baying for the blood of Domelevo, those plotting all kinds of schemes and plots against him, must know that in the wake of the OccupyGhana case and the ruling by the apex court of the land, the Supreme Court, the power of the Auditor General to surcharge has been confirmed.

And unlike the past, the Auditor General doesn’t have to wait for five, four, three, two or one year to hold persons and entities whom his work, based on evidence the same persons/entities provide, shows wrong doing”.