Is the office your property? - Labour expert to Domelevo

The competence of Auditor-General as a ‘good employee’ has been questioned by a labour expert who is unhappy with Domelevo’s conduct.

The Auditor-General is in the news again after it emerged that locks to his office have been changed, less than a month into his forced leave.

On Tuesday, Domelevo who is on a 167-day leave discovered that the locks to his office have been changed when he passed by to pick documents.

The move which according to Domelevo was sanctioned by the board of the Audit Service has generated heated debate with the government being criticized for trying to force him out.

In an interview with Neat FM, Yiadom Boakye Amponsah, a labour expert said that by not handing over the keys to his office to the service before going home, Domelevo breached standard office protocols.

He argues that the office is not Domelevo’s personal property so it was wrong for him to take the keys home.

He said Domelevo’s actions show traits of a bad employee.

“Work and politics are not the same. When working, you follow certain procedures. When you are on leave it’s like you’ve been sacked. There are some companies that when you are on leave, you hand over the keys to the security personnel because it’s not your property. You are there in a privilege position as appointing officer. He should have handed over everything including his keys.”

“If you are Auditor-General and you can’t follow due process then I don’t think the guy is fit for purpose. If you go to your office and the keys have been changed, what business have you to go and invite press. Someone must be bold to tell him that, that’s how we do things. I feel that he is undermining the authority of his office. My assessment is that he’s not a good employee. It’s not your office, it’s a public office so you don’t do that,” Mr Amponsah stressed.

His views differ from the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement CDD who has described the situation as another low point in Ghana’s democratic dispensation.

Dr Kojo Asante could not fathom why the government will make such a move without informing the Auditor-General.

“I have been speechless since I saw the video. This is a really low for our country. I had never thought that we will be seeing something like this and it is really appalling. This is still the substantive Auditor General. So why would you go and change the lock to the office of someone on leave, because this doesn’t make any sense,” he stated.

“This is over 20 years of democratic governance in this country and this is what we do. We have reduced our governance to this? And we are going to rationalize this?” he quizzed.