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Akufo-Addo's government will pay a price for Domelevo's removal - Kofi Bentil

By Mutala Yakubu
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The Vice President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, says the Akufo-Addo government will pay a price for their concerted effort to get Daniel Domelevo out of office as the Auditor General.

President Akufo-Addo has asked Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo to go on retirement and that has been done.

The Domelevo-Presidency brouhaha surfaced again on March 19, 2021, when the presidency in a 21-page statement rejected claims that Daniel Domelevo was haunted out of office because of his work which targeted highly placed public officials.

READ ALSO: Domelevo was targetted by the presidency that wasn't ready to fight corruption - Manasseh

Mr Bentil speaking on Newsfile on Joy FM on March 20, 2021, said Domelevo is the best Auditor General we have had as a nation and the government will regret their actions to get him out.

"We have been fighting corruption all these years. Mr. Domelevo showed that he was ready and willing to work with everybody. This is the best we have had when it comes to the potential to make people who are corrupt payback. He worked in the interest of the nation, the actions of the government to stop him may have work but I think this government is going to pay the price for it".

Mr Domelevo was asked to go on retirement by President Akufo-Addo on March 3, 2020, after he returned from a forced leave of 167 days.

In a lengthy statement, Secretary to the President, Nana Asante-Bediatuo, said Mr Domelevo was appointed by the former NDC administration because of his loyalty to the outgoing President at the time.

The statement further noted Mr Domelevo was not an auditor as at the time Mr Mahama was appointing him into office.

“After losing the election, it became necessary for former President Mahama to change his nomination for Auditor-General, with the sole aim of saddling the then-President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, with an Auditor General whose allegiance was to former President Mahama, instead of the nation,”.

“… It must be noted that Mr Domelevo, hitherto, was not an auditor and had not been engaged in auditing. Before his early retirement in public service in 2010, he was director of payroll at the controller and Accountant General’s department”.

President Akufo-Addo said that despite these observations, his administration ensured that the Office of the Auditor-General was adequately resourced.

“The President has never held the view that the work of Mr Domelevo was embarrassing his government. On the contrary, the President has always been a strong advocate for the Office of the Auditor-General because he believes the work of the Auditor-General is necessary for ensuring that the country's financial resources are used prudently, and the public purse is protected.

“As a matter of fact, and of public knowledge, the President ensured that Mr Domelevo was provided the necessary resources required for the efficient running of the Audit Service because the President considered the work of the Audit Service a critical part of good governance”.