Forcing Auditor-General out means Akufo-Addo doesn’t mean well for Ghana – Lawyer

An auditor, tax consultant and lawyer, Isaac Agyiri Danso, has explained that the President’s directive to the Auditor-General to proceed on his “accumulated” leave does not look good for anyone who means well for this country, stressing that the directive is “distasteful” and even though it is legal, it is wrong for anyone committed to the fight against corruption.

He bemoaned the focus on law and legal justifications to the detriment of legitimacy and nation-building, insisting that the decision is “bad optics” for the country’s fight against corruption.

President Akufo Addo has asked the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, to proceed on his accumulated leave citing a similar case when a former Auditor General was asked to proceed on leave by late former President John Atta-Mills.

But several scholars and anti-corruption campaigners reacted with shock and horror at the directive which effectively keeps the Auditor General out of office until the 2020 elections are over.

Full statement by Mr Agyiri Danso as posted on social media:

This overly legalistic justification to force the Auditor General out of office does not look good on anyone who means well for this country. This guy has in his audit reports called out serving officials on receiving double salary, making back pay to former MPs and is working on sensitive audits including the infamous KROLL saga. He has literally been the lone voice of accountability in the fight against corruption under this government.

Sometimes we overly focus on the law and legal justifications and lose sight of the bigger picture of legitimacy in nation building. If for nothing at all, it is bad optics to send him out of office under these circumstances and everyone involved in this distasteful decision ought to have realised that citing laws and precedence could not make it look any better.

We may have the right to do all things, but certainly not all things are good for us and this decision right here is an embodiment of everything legal and yet very wrong for everyone. This is already a terrible decision, what’s worse is not bringing him back to his role! But this is Ghana, we take a step forward and two backward. Specialists in scoring own goals against our progress!