The Co-Chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption (CMaC), Edem Senanu, has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make sure he listens to civil society groups by recalling the Auditor-General from leave.
The president had directed Daniel Yaw Domelevo to take his accumulated leave in what has degenerated into a tussle between the Presidency and the Auditor General.
Speaking on The Key Points on TV3/3FM on Saturday, July 11, Edem Senanu said the issue tends to have taken a personal turn despite it being “ultimately an issue of independence of the Auditor-General and his unit”.
He indicated that he sees “it more as a tussle between the board and not so much the Presidency”.
“The Presidency is stepping in because as the board chair said, he raised the matter to the presidency. So we need to go to the root of the matter.”
After getting notified of a letter dated Monday, June 29, 2020 that he should proceed on his accumulated leave, Mr Domelevo replied a few days later, precisely on Friday, July 3, suggesting that the directive was in bad faith as his work seemed to be embarrassing government.
“The office must have been aware also that several appointees of the President, have not, since the year 2017 taken their annual leave to date,” the Auditor-General wrote in his reply.
“The directive therefore that I proceed on leave, oblivious of the other workers similarly circumstanced, gives the impression that the decision is not taken in good faith.”
Mr Domelevo, therefore, asked the President to reconsider the decision “in order to protect the sanctity of the labour law, the constitution and the independence of the Auditor-General which is of utmost importance in so far as ensuring that the constitutional principles of probity, transparency and accountability are concerned”.
It is within the same spirit that Edem Senanu appealed to the president to reconsider his decision.
“We are hoping that the president as demonstrated in the past will pay attention to what we are saying…and they will rise up to the occasion.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana