New Auditor General will be rendered toothless – Prof. Gyampo

Prof. Ransford Gyampo, a senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, has stated that the work of the new Auditor-General will become a daunting one; one that already makes him appear toothless in his role.

He explained that coupled with the circumstances surrounding the forceful retirement of the former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, it puts a lot of pressure on whoever fills the post.

“From all that has happened, it has fueled the perception that the government was not willing to work with whoever it didn’t appoint. By what has happened, we have psychologically rendered whoever is replacing Domelevo as toothless and illegitimate as the perception is that the person must be a party faithful. Even if the person is not a party person, the person will want to be politically correct in his dealings and in the discharge of his role and I think this will not help,” he said.

He explained further that all of what has happened was also fueled by the fact that Daniel Yao Domelevo, unlike many public servants, was very vocal about his work, especially in the public.

he also added that going forward, there will be the need for clear rules to be stated on what and how appointments can be made during transition periods and how successive governments should relate to appointees who they did not appoint.

“Generally, reading and analyzing the issue, I think that whatever we say, we must be mindful of certain fundamental probe that has to do with the timing of his appointment and the perception that it was an agenda to do the Akufo-Addo regime ill coupled with Domelevo’s own public utterances, and the kinds of things he says. You know, this is the kind of public servant who is always out there, forcefully articulating what he believes in and all of that and so, some of these things tendered to fuel the perception that the man was there and just brought in to bring the Akufo-Addo regime ill…

“It fuels the perceived governmental high-handedness and the collective implication that. I think that going forward as a nation, we must relook and rethink the decisions and appointments by regimes and governments during transition periods when elections have been held and when you know you are going. Are you able to make decisions that other regimes must come and respect?

“That aside, we must also work on this whole winner takes all ideology. Let's ensure that it is not exercised to the extent that if you don’t appoint somebody, you should not be able to work with that person. It doesn’t help our course as we try to deepen good governance," he explained.

He made this known during the Saturday, March 20, 2021, edition of JoyNews' Newsfile program.