Domelevo saw it coming and he didn’t care – Franklin Cudjoe

Daniel Domelevo has been asked to take his accumulated 123 days leave

Founder and President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has said an Executive Order asking the Auditor-General to proceed on leave represents the destruction of a stronghold of public sector accountability.

According to him, Daniel Domelevo executes his mandate to the fullest and does not care about how that threatens his position as Auditor-General.

“Domelevo saw it coming and he didn't care. The only last bastion of accountability has been decapitated,” Franklin Cudjoe told GhanaWeb on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday, June 29, 2020, ordered Mr Domelevo to take his 123 days of accumulated leave in accordance with sections 20 (1) and 31 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

The law applies to workers in both the public and private sector, however, there is a disagreement that it also applies to heads of anti-graft institutions like the Auditor-General and Commissioner for the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

Mr Domelevo, regarded as an astute anti-corruption campaigner, has in the last couple of months, clashed with some high placed government officials while carrying out his mandate.

While some view the directive from the Presidency as consistent with the law, others say it is part of a grand scheme to remove him from office.

Reacting to the President’s directive to the Mr Domelovo, Mr Cudjoe stated that “political power is awesome when it is expressed to hunt hunters. It just has a way of repeating itself. Perhaps in 2021.”

Meanwhile, two outspoken governance experts have kicked against the Executive Order.

Professor Stephen Kweku Asare and Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh have suggested that the directive issued to Mr Domelevo, while it may appear appropriate, may in fact be flouting the Constitution.