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The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says there is enough cause to believe that immediate past Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo owed allegiance to his appointer, ex-President John Dramani Mahama.
According to Akufo-Addo, this is evident in the manner through which Mr. Domelevo was appointed in 2016; insisting that the appointment had some elements of ulterior motive against him as incoming President.
Former President John Dramani Mahama after losing the 2016 polls, appointed Daniel Domelovo, as Auditor General, whose appointment took effect from December 23, 2016.
In a 21-page document issued by the Office of the President to chronicle matters leading to what many deem to be the controversial retirement of the Auditor General, the President said John Mahama hurriedly selected Mr. Domelevo rather than one Dr. Felix Kwame Aveh because of his “painful loss” in the 2016 presidential election.
“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,” the statement indicated.
According to Akufo-Addo, Dr. Felix Kwame Aveh was the Auditor General that former President Mahama intended to appoint if he had won the election of December 7, 2016, but because that did not happen, he settled on Domelevo to “pursue an agenda”.
Making reference to the letter written by the then Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah to the Council of State, President Akufo-Addo mentioned that the change which the letter refers to as unforeseen circumstances was because of Mr. Mahama’s defeat.
“A reasonable and objective conclusion was that having lost his mandate to govern, former President Mahama appointed Mr Domelevo to the office, knowing very well that President Akufo-Addo would be sworn into office in a few days, to pursue a particular agenda”, portions of the release read.
It added: “Stranger still is the fact that Mr. Domelevo’s appointment process was initiated on 13th December 2016, a few days after this emphatic rejection. The appointment process for Mr. Domelevo was rushed through the Council o State to enable former President Mahama to appoint Mr. Domelevvo before leaving office.
President Akufo-Addo said despite these events, he was still committed to working with Mr. Domelevo as Auditor General.
Indeed, he acknowledged the fact that he invited Mr. Doemelevo in the presence of the current Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and encouraged him to continue to be at post.
The President also cleared the air that “never had he held the view that the work of Mr. Domelevo was embarrassing his government”.
On March 2, a day before Mr. Domelevo was scheduled to return from his controversial forced leave, the Audit Service Board questioned his nationality and age.
The Board claimed Mr. Domelevo should have retired in 2020 and is Togolese.
The Audit Service Board, based its claims on records at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) provided by the Auditor General.
His date of birth is said to be June 1, 1960, and not June 1, 1961.
Mr. Domelevo however refuted these claims in further correspondence.
The Presidency endorsed the retirement claims of the Audit Service Board and said it considered Mr. Domelevo retired.
“The President is of the view that you [Domelevo] have formally left office,” the letter from the presidency said in response to the date of birth concerns.
In a letter, the Presidency thanked him for his service and indicated that a substantive replacement for him will soon be announced.
Although critics and Civil Society Organizations have said the President acted in bad faith, Nana Akufo-Addo said his decision has enough justification.
