Somebody May Be Poisoning the Mind of the President Against the Auditor-General

I know an insignificantly little about fiscal management and culture in either the political arena or the civil and public service, so I would not even attempt to second-guess anybody in the apparent to-do presently raging between the Auditor-General and the Audit Services Board, which is evidently being suavely and mischievously characterized as a contest of wills or tussle between the President and the Mahama-appointed Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelevo (See “Auditor-General Snubs Akufo-Addo Over GHȻ 640 M Contractors’ Audit” DailyGuideAfrica.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/10/18). What clearly appears to me, and I readily own that I have yet to conduct any routine journalistic investigations, is that somebody with a remarkable modicum of leverage on the Audit Services Board may be trying hard to use his/her influence with the Presidency to do his/her private bidding, rather than the bidding of Nana Akufo-Addo and that of the people who elected the latter.

I hope the President does not facilely fall for such ploy and plot. I also hope that Mr. Domelevo is not being controlled by some sinister forces among the ranks of the key operatives of the country’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), who are notoriously known not to be above such criminal mischief. What is crystal clear to me, though, is that the Auditor-General is a stickler for the rules of how the game of his job is played. And he perfectly may be privy or studiously aware of who may be pulling what strings to get him to act against his will and/or conscience, although I personally don’t believe or agree the least bit with Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the career General-Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress that Nana Akufo-Addo has anything to do with the apparently low-tension fracas raging within the Department of the Auditor-General. I also starkly recognize the fact that not being on state side and not in government, to boot, at best, I can only use my critical-thinking skills to draw my largely speculative suspicions and conclusions on this matter.

On the other hand, something tells me that the apparent refusal of the Auditor-General to proceed with scrutinizing the fiscal books or records of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the terms of reference period during which former President Mahama and his Spare-Tire-Abongo-Boys ruled the roost, may very well be due to a feeling on Mr. Domelevo’s part that somebody on the Audit Services Board may be poised to provoking a witch-hunt against some operatives of the previous regime. If, indeed, there is a cause to believe that some apocalyptic crimes have been committed by some MMDA operatives, such cause or evidence could be readily established by the Audit Services Board, or at least at the behest of the latter. Now, I don’t know what the law actually has to say on this count, but we are also informed that the Auditor-General strongly feels that his professional code of conduct and/or ethics is being flagrantly violated under Article 187 Section 7 of the country’s current Constitution.

If so, then about the only logical recourse to having the MMDAs audited and contractors whom the latter local government agencies are allegedly indebted to promptly paid, is to have the President or his Chief-of-Staff or Executive-Secretary directly communicate in writing with the Auditor-General in order to have the right thing done according to the dictates of the law, as clearly articulated in the Constitution. The good news here is that Nana Akufo-Addo is renowned for being a crackerjack lawyer or attorney himself; the President also has at his disposal some of the best and brightest legal lights in the country in both his own cabinet and outside of the same with whom he may readily consult. What does not seem to be very savvy to me, however, is the apparent decision, by whoever may be responsible, to have a newspaper whose publisher-proprietor is also a key figure in the current Administration run an apparent series of propagandistic interference for Jubilee House – at least that is how it clearly appears to me.

A much better and smarter method or means could be devised to promptly and constructively resolve any differences that the Auditor-General and his professional associates may be having with operatives of the Ministry of Local Government, and even Jubilee House. Nobody should let a devious and apparently mischievous but thoroughly routed and irredeemably defeated Mr. Mahama have a field day. Both sides have to move beyond petty squabbles and foreground the greater interest of the nation at large.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
September 11, 2018
E-mail: [email protected]