Finally, Audit Service Moves Beyond Toxic Politics of Personality

The decision by President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to retire Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo must bring the direly needed closure to the political wrangling that was precipitated by Nana Akufo-Addo’s all-too-legitimate and pursuit of the long-established precedent of having auditors-general routinely proceed on leave in order to exhaust themselves of irregularly accumulated leave or vacation days that ought not to have been piled up or accumulated in the manner reportedly done by Mr. Domelevo (See “You’re Retired; Thanks for Your Service – Akufo-Addo Goodbyes Domelevo” Modernghana.com 3/3/21).

In some respects, it is rather sad to see Mr. Domelevo exit from the Audit Service and the Civil Service under an ignoble cloud of suspicion, in view of the very remarkable job performance that he had earlier on been duly credited with. But, of course, by the time that he was directed to proceed on leave, the eleventh-hour Mahama appointee had become a virtual nuisance and a controversial partisan politician whose professional integrity had clearly become one that left much to be desired. His apparent craving for the media spotlight had also gotten the better of Mr. Domelevo, as it became increasingly obvious that the continentally renowned beacon of official accountability had acquired for himself a completely different agenda from the one that his official job description required and demanded of him.

It was also clear that Mr. Domelevo was staunchly backed by sinister forces from the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), most notable among them Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the dynastic General-Secretary of the latter political establishment, who began to strategically envisage the Auditor-General as a rough-and-ready weapon to be used to seriously undermine the credibility and integrity of the Akufo-Addo Administration, and possibly destabilize the nation at large. Mr. Domelevo’s abusive decision to deliberately target ruling party heavyweights like Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Presidential Senior Minister, in unprecedently niggling ways, was professionally outrageous, in view of the fact of the relatively unprecedented level of official corruption that had characterized the previous John “Expedition Kanazoe” Dramani Mahama regime, a diddly little of which had been clinically and objectively subjected to public scrutiny in the manner that Mr. Domelevo was subjecting Akufo-Addo cabinet members and executive appointees.

Now, with Mr. Domelevo healthily out of the way, the hardworking staff of the Ghana Audit Service can begin to seriously focus their energies on the institutional mission of holding government and civil and public service officials strictly accountable to the Ghanaian taxpayer. As noted in some of our previous columns, the departure of a crusading pathologically partisan Mr. Domelevo ought not to be misguidedly and/or irresponsibly interpreted as a lethargic or nonchalant return to business as usual. The key operatives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have a bounden obligation to prove themselves to be far better than their National Democratic Congress’ predecessors and detractors. So far, while in the critical sector of our national development agenda, the Akufo-Addo Administration is without any compeer or formidable rival in Ghana’s Fourth Republic, when it comes to the equally significant battle against official corruption, unfortunately, the leaders of the ruling New Patriotic Party have yet to amply demonstrate themselves to be well above board, as it were.

Our NPP leaders need to meet much higher standards than the abjectly low one set by the Mills-Mahama regime and, after the latter, the Mahama/Amissah-Arthur Kleptocracy of Bui Dam Woyomes like General Mosquito, the popular nickname of NDC General-Secretary Asiedu-Nketia. This is what the replacement of Mr. Domelevo at the helm of the Ghana Audit Service ought to be about or mean for all forward-looking and progressive-thinking members of the Global Ghanaian Community. It simply cannot be any other way.

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By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

March 3, 2021

E-mail: [email protected]