Professor Addae-Mensah saddened by the rising level of corruption

Last week, it was Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi passing a damning verdict on the Akufo-Addo government's fight against corruption.

This week, it is the venerable Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah also voicing out his frustrations about corruption in the country.

The two, add to a tall list of public figures who have completely lost trust in the ability of the Akufo-Addo government to fight corruption.

Professor Addae-Mensah in a Joy News interview said he is saddened by the rising rate of corruption in the country.

“But now, I get very sad especially when you see that people who are attempting to fight the canker [corruption] don’t appear to have the support of the powers that be.

“I may be wrong but I think that the general perception among a lot of people in the country [is] that if you are seen to be someone who wants to fight corruption then be careful you don’t step on anybody’s toes,” he told JoyNews.

He also bemoaned the persecution and hounding out of former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo.

He criticized how President Akufo-Addo exercised his authority in the matter and lamented that Domelevo was not given a fair hearing.

“What worries me is the grounds upon which he was made to step aside. Being told to go on a very long leave, his nationality being questioned, his age brought into question. Not having the chance to publicly give his side of the story and then asked to go on retirement,” he said.

Professor Gyimah-Boadi, on the other hand, doubted the commitment of President Akufo-Addo to fight graft.

“As for the president’s credibility in terms of anti-corruption, I am afraid to say it is in tatters. It has been in tatters for a while but this puts a nail in the coffin. I see Domelevo as a victim of well-orchestrated actions by individuals who are [government] officials and by state institutions,” Prof Gyimah-Boadi told Citi TV in a report monitored by GhanaWeb on Wednesday.

“Mr. Domelevo was exercising proper constitutional and legal oversight [over] officials and institutions that Mr. Domelevo has sought to hold to account. The man was doing his best to protect the public purse to claim surcharges for improperly spent public funds. One who is trying to fight corruption is one who is being persecuted and hounded out of office,” Gyimah-Boadi added.

Domelevo who was returning from a 167-day leave was forced to retire because, according to the Audit Service Board, he has, per documents available to them, clocked sixty years in 2020.