Martin Kpebu, legal practitioner
Legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has made an earnest plea to President Akufo-Addo to reconsider his decision on asking the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo to take an accumulated annual leave, and allow him to resume his work.
According to him, the Auditor-General, who was directed by the president to take his annual leave on June 30, 2020, should be given the opportunity to continue his work, in spite of the fact that the constitution makes provisions for public officers to proceed on leave.
“The President should call him back and then moving forward, every year, they should come up with a plan…this is not the time for him [Domelevo] to go on leave,” he said in an interview with Joy FM on June 3, 2020.
Mr Kpebu also added that Akufo-Addo, ordering the Auditor-General to proceed on a leave during ‘this time’ does not serve the best interest of the country.
“There’s been a previous Supreme Court [ruling] of this trying to make sure that the office is truly independent … the Constitution envisages that a worker should rest but at this time that the Auditor-General has been given a very critical national assignment, is not the best time for him to go on leave,” he lamented.
He further advised the president to have discussions with Mr Domelevo regarding how persons holding the office should proceed on leaves and in due course, plan how he (the Auditor General) should also go on leave.
“In some cases, the employer engages the employee by asking when he or she wants to take the leave. When that is done and the employee doesn’t take the leave, it’s up to the employer to engage the employee,” he concluded.
