President Akufo Addo’s attempt to escape the anti-corruption scrutiny of the Daniel Yaw Domelevo, former Auditor-General has backfired badly with Domelevo getting a job in the European Union to be responsible for monitoring and auditing funding and grants headed for Ghana.
According to Ghanaian online news portal MyNewsGh.com, the appointment was confirmed by credible sources in Ghana’s EU office.
The EU says it offered the consultancy contract to Mr. Domelevo on an “approach basis” for retired Civil servants especially Judges, Auditors and Security personnel in African nations where the EU has interests.
Earlier in 2020, the President had forced Domelevo to take a 167-day mandatory leave because he had surcharged Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo over Maafo’s dubious payment of US$1million dollars to a UK company for no work done.
Then when Domelevo was just returning to work, the Audit Service Board chaired by Prof. Dua Agyemang, who has been the point man in the whole hounding campaign against Domelevo wrote to him informing him that his date of birth has changed from 1961 to 1960 and that he is therefore deemed to have retired.
The Audit Service Board also claimed Domelevo was a Togolese.
Many were hoping that for once, President Akufo-Addo whose administration is seen as the most corrupt in the country’s history deflect the urge to witch-hunt Domelevo and cure some of the perceptions that he was directly helping a corrupt Audit Service Board to hound out Domelevo who has countered many of the reported corrupt deals at the Audit Service.
But President Akufo Addo took the bait once more and forced Domelevo out, despite him being 59 years old and not 60 years old as the Audit Service had presented. The retirement age is 60 years in Ghana.
As the Coalition of anti-corruption CSOs points out, the forced retirement of Domelevo is coming at a time when two cases bordering on his independence from the executive are still pending.
Yaw Domelovo had previously worked in external auditing responsibilities in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. It is expected that this time, he will be handed responsibility for Ghana, and thereby bringing the Akufo Addo administration into a full circle contrary to its plan to get rid of him and prevent him from poking his nose in the underhand dealing by government officials.