Akufo Addo Seals Domelevo’s Sack, Makes New Appointments At Audit Service.

What appears to be a tiptoe around the law to remove eagle-eyed Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, has gained more traction with President AKkufo-Addo appointing a Deputy and an Assistant Auditor General while Domelevo is on forced leave.

Three days ago, the President, through the Audit Service Board, promoted Lawrence Ayagiba to the position of Deputy-Auditor General. A circular signed by the office of the Acting Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu also said that one Ms Vera Quarshie has been appointed as Assistant Auditor-General.

These promotions are coming while there was a case pending at the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the President’s directive to force Domelevo on leave.

Consequently, the Audit Service is now assuming the shape of an organogram with the reportedly corrupt and lazy Acting Auditor General, Johnson Akuamoah sitting on top, while Lawrence Ayagiba and Vera Quarshie deputize. 

Even though President Akufo-Addo cannot confirm Akuamoah as substantive Auditor-General because the law will not allow him to, the makeshift set-up is good enough to keep Domelevo, out of the picture. 

The 167-day hiatus that the Auditor General has been forced to take will keep him out of office until Domelevo’s retirement and just before elections in December.

There is suspicion that the set up at the Audit Service is to ensure that the Akufo-Addo government enjoy the carte blanche, to pillage the national purse for political campaign money.

The Acting Auditor General, Johnson Akuamoah had allegedly, already been conniving with the Chairman of the Audit Service Board, Prof. Edward Dua Agyemang, to undertake shady deals while he was Deputy to Domelevo.

Immediately Domelevo was hounded out Akuamoah’s first action was to write to the Supreme Court where Domelevo was having a case with Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, over the questionable payment of US$1million to Kroll Associates, that he was satisfied with investigations into the case. The letter by Akuamoah effectively leaves Osafo Maafo off the hook.

Meanwhile, two Ghanaian law professors have pointed out that the promotion of two people by the Ghana Audit Service Board to Deputy and Assistant Auditors-General respectively, while the substantive Auditor General is on leave is unconstitutional.

While US-based Prof. Kwaku Asare has said that the appointments are null and void and a breach of the Constitution, Prof. Kwasi Prempeh of Executive Director of Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), points out that the appointments are an attempt to usurp the powers of the Auditor-General.

These appointments, “continue to be a serious breach of the constitution,” Prof. Asare wrote.

In a Facebook post, Prof Asare wrote “The Audit Service Board has appointed a new Deputy Auditor-General and an Assistant Auditor-General without the involvement of the only Auditor-General known to the Constitution. In fact, the Auditor-General has not even been informed of these new appointments.”