‘Your tenure has expired’ – Domelevo rejects Audit Board chair directive

The Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, has indicated he would disregard any directive from the Audit Service Board because its tenure has expired.

Mr. Domelevo, who was forced to go on leave, in a letter dated December 2^nd, addressed Prof. Dua Agyeman as the ‘former Audit Service Board Chair’ and reminded him that his board expired 52 days ago.

The letter, sighted by theghanareport.com, was in response to Prof.Dua Agyeman’s earlier letter to him, asking him to account for $4,020 imprest paid to Daniel Domelevo on his travel to London and Hague in March and April 2018.

According to Prof. Dua Agyeman’s letter, an audit report into the travel expenses of the Auditor-General had shown that Daniel Domelevo had not retired that accountable imprest.

The Board chair directed him to account for the monies within two weeks of receiving the letter.

But less than 72 hours after the Board chair’s directive, Daniel Domelevo responded explaining that “not even a pesewa is outstanding against me for any advance or imprest that I took on my foreign travels.”

Mr. Daniel Domelevo also warned the Board chair that his directive could be in contempt of court because he has challenged the authority of the Board to commissioned a private firm to audit the Auditor-General.

That audit formed the basis on which the Board chair had directed Daniel Domelevo to refund the accountable imprest.

“I will like to remind you that as to the question of whether or not the audit is even legal is before the Supreme Court for determination and for which reason your request is clearly contemptuous of the Court”

Mr. Domelevo also challenged the authority of the Board chair to be issuing directives to him when his Board expired on October 11^th, 2020, and reminded him of Section 5 of the Audit Service Board Act.

That portion of the law reads; “A member of the Board other than the Auditor-General and the Head of Civil Service shall hold office for a period not exceeding three years and is eligible for re-appointment but no such member shall be appointed for more than three terms.”

Based on this, the Auditor-General said ‘I wonder why you still hold yourself as the Board chairman after the expiration of the Board’s term of office on 11^th October 11, 2020…”

“Until you provide evidence of your reappointment in accordance with 189(1) and section 5 (1) of Act 584, I deem you to be acting ultra vires and will treat you as such”, he signed off the letter dated December 2.

Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman is Audit Service Board Chair

The bad blood between the Board chair and Daniel Domelevo

Mr. Daniel Domelevo and his Board Chair, Prof. Dua Agyeman have been at loggerheads since 2017.

Mr. Domelevo, appointed by President John Mahama, has accused Prof. Dua Agyeman, appointed by President Akufo-Addo of interfering in his work and violating his mandate.

The Auditor-General in a May 2018 letter to President Akufo-Addo asked for intervention in the matter.

Professor Dua Agyeman, who is a former Auditor-General, has denied the allegations and has accused Domelevo of disrespecting the Board.

“[Domelevo] is insisting that he is not answerable to the Board and that whatever instructions we give he will not take.”

 

President backs Board, CSOs back Domelevo

Things took a further nosedive after the Board directed Mr. Domelevo who had been fighting to Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo to refund some 4m cedis, to proceed on leave. He flatly refused.

The Board sought the president’s intervention and President Akufo-Addo, in June 2020, directed Mr. Daniel Domelevo to go on leave after accumulating more than six months’ worth of rest.

He is to be away from office duties for 167 days.

It was a saga that played out in the media as the presidency and the Auditor-General published their widely reported responses.

Some saw the directive as part of a plan to force out the anti-corruption campaigner. A coalition of civil society organisations backed the Auditor-General.

“We find the entire episode and the justification for the President’s action regrettable and inconsistent with both the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution.

Photo: Dr. Kojo Asante of CDD-Ghana led the coalition of CSO's campaign to #bringbackDomelevo.

The President has stood his ground, insisting the directive was grounded in law. Daniel Domelevo could return by February 2020. The 58-year old Auditor-General is due for retirement by 2022 when he would have turned 60 years.

 

The appointment that irked the Akufo-Addo government

He was appointed in the dying days of the Mahama administration in December 2016. Since then, he has been viewed by figures within the NPP government with skepticism about his neutrality.

One of the people who criticised his appointment, Yaw Osafo-Maafo. The Auditor-General has been at loggerheads with the president’s Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo who has been asked to refund $1million for unlawfully contracting a UK-based consultancy on behalf of the government.

Since proceeding on leave, the High Court has reversed the Auditor-General’s decision to surcharge Yaw Osafo Maafo.

The court on October 30, 2020, ruled that Mr. Domelevo breached natural justice by not giving Mr. Osafo-Maafo a fair hearing to resolve the matter.

Daniel Domelevo has been praised for his anti-corruption fight. His work has also been applauded by diplomats.

Daniel Domelevo’s viral comment, ‘if you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back’ earned him praise from the Danish Ambassador.

Named the 2019 Integrity Personality of the Year, he has injected some bite in the work of the Audit Service formerly seen as toothless.