Those who got me out of office succeeded in marketing me very well - Former Auditor General

The former Auditor General, Daniel Yao Demelevo, has said significant revelations about his removal from office and the subsequent developments in his professional life.

According to him, those who orchestrated his removal from office, succeeded in marketing him for advanced roles with international firms.

Speaking in an interview with veteran journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, on Pan African TV, the former Auditor General said that even though the rulings from the Supreme Court was in his favour, it came at a time he couldn't be reinstated back as Auditor General.

However, the circumstances that led to his removal have paved the way for him to grab international appointments.

“Those who got me out of office served their interest and they also succeeded in marketing me very well for which I am grateful to them for the pro bono work they did for me. Even though they secured their interests interestingly.

“People meet me and congratulate me on the Supreme Court’s ruling but I tell them the court ruled in the president’s favour not mine,” he said.

To him, he was removed from office because he was inconveniencing the presidency with his auditing style which would have cost the government the 2020 elections.

For this reason, he believed that the government pushed him aside so it could have its way.

“First and foremost, I think I was inconveniencing the presidency or the government with the type of auditing I was doing, so they needed me out. With 2020 being an election year, if my report came out by June 2020 before the election they didn't know what it was going to be for them. By this, they won by pushing me aside,” he stated.

When asked about what he has been doing since leaving office, the Daniel Yao Domelevo mentioned that he has since been consulting with the World Bank and other international firms.

“ I have been providing consultancy services across the globe for some of the international financial institutions which have sent me to several countries in Africa and Asia.

“...For now, I don't do anything in Ghana, I only come for visits…there has not been any request for my service here in Ghana but I am more than happy to work for Ghana because there is nowhere better than home,” he added.

Background

Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, published an article on December 4, 2020, to detail events leading to the woes of the Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, and a directive from the Presidency forcing him to proceed on leave.

Manasseh Azure explains that the public manifestation of the acrimonious tussle between Domelevo and the government that resulted in the Auditor-General’s woes can be traced to work done by the Audit Service on the Ministry of Finance.

“It started when the Auditor-General issued an audit observation dated January 21, 2019, to the Ministry of Finance after an audit revealed that the Ministry of Finance had paid a UK-based investigation firm, Kroll Associates, an amount of $1,031,460.50 but there was no evidence of work done.

“What caught the attention of the auditors was that the contract between the government and Kroll Associates was signed in September 2017, but 'invoices include February, May, June and August 2017, an indication that Kroll Associates Ltd commenced work 7 months before the actual contract,’” Manasseh Azure Awuni writes in his latest article.

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

NW/NOQ