Executive Director at the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson has hit hard at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for issuing a 21-page explanatory letter to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on reasons behind the ‘forced’ retirement of the Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo.
To the ASEPA Executive Director, the letter makes no sense but rather has compounded the situation for him [the President].
“Forgive me for being blunt this morning; I have read all the 21-page that came from the Presidency over Domelevo’s retirement and the simple description I can give to the letter is that there is no sense in the letter. There is absolutely no sense in that letter the President put out. I am struggling to look for a word that can better explain the letter from the Presidency than senseless but I can’t find any,” he chided.
Fuming on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Mensah Thompson noted that the letter from the Presidency seriously exposes President Akufo-Addo's agenda to kick the Auditor-General out at the very onset, especially the claim and suspicion that he (Domelovo) held allegiance to former President John Mahama, because of his appointment.
It also presupposes that he said, some Justices of the Supreme Court-appointed last year by the President and part of the seven (7) panel of judges on the just-ended election petition, held allegiance to him (the President).
“If you some parts of the letter, it exposes the President seriously and sometimes I ask myself who advises the President on issues such as this one. Some parts of the letter read that Mr Domelevo was there and he was holding the allegiance to the former President because it was the former President who appointed him,” he indicated.
“In effect, what President Akufo-Addo is saying that the five Justices of the Supreme Court he appointed last year to the bench and who were part of the 7 Justices on just-ended election petition were holding allegiance to him because he appointed them. That is what President Akufo-Addo is saying in that letter. We cannot reduce our democracy to this level”, he fumed.
The Executive Director at ASEPA further accused President Akufo-Addo of turning the Presidency into both an investigative and adjudication arena.
“That is how low the Presidency has sunk to. Is it the business of the President to write to someone that the person’s retirement is reduced? Is there not a state institution that is in charge of pension and regulation and retirement? What is the job of SSNIT and the Public Service Commission? So, is the President now performing the responsibility of SSNIT or what? I have never witnessed this anywhere in Ghana where if someone’s retirement is due, the President is the one that writes a letter to him to leave office..."
“The letter the President has issued has worsened the situation because Ghana has become a laughing stock in the international community. Domelevo knows his retirement age and the Audit service has its all administrative procedures that their people pass through when they are going on retirement and that is what should have been activated. The President is now dedicating his time to look for people whose retirement are due and write to them to go on retirement,” he stated.
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