Why the Audit Service is going after Auditor-General Domelevo

What appeared to have been a case that was nearly forgotten has resurfaced as the Audit Service Board has opened yet another Pandora’s Box on embattled Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo.

This time, the Board is challenging the nationality and in essence, the retirement age of Domelevo, claiming that he is a Togolese and due to information it has that shows that he was born in 1960, he should have gone on retirement on June 1, 2020.

According to a report on citinewsroom.com, a series of correspondences between the Chairman of the Audit Service Board, Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman, and Daniel Yao Domelevo, indicated that the Audit Service Board had discovered such irregularities and anomalies and requested an explanation.

In a letter dated February 26, 2021, which details the claims, the Board said that “Records at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) completed and signed by you indicate your date of birth as 1st June 1960 when you joined the scheme on 1st October 1978. The records show that you stated your tribe as Togolese and a non-Ghanaian. That your home town is Agbatofe.”

Further, it stated that “On 25th October 1992, you completed and signed a SSNIT Change of Beneficiary Nomination form, stating your nationality as a Ghanaian and your home town as Ada in the Greater Accra Region. The date of birth on your Ghanaian passport number A45800, issued on 28th February 1996 is 1st June 1961. That place of birth is stated as Kumasi, Ashanti Region.”

Providing a response to this, Domelevo wrote that it was his grandfather, a native of Ada in the Greater Accra Region, who had migrated to Togo and stayed at Agbatofe.

His father, Augustine Domelevo, however, migrated from Togo to the then Gold Coast, he clarified.

“Either my father wrongly mentioned Agbatofe in Togo as his hometown to me, or I misconstrued it at the time… My mother is also a Ghanaian,” he clarified.

Explaining further, he said that on the matter of his true date of birth, he noticed that the 1960 date of birth was a mistake “when I checked my information in the baptismal register of the Catholic Church in Adeemmra.”

“The register has Yaw as part of my name and also provides my date of birth as 1st June 1961 – this corresponds with Thursday or Yaw- the day of the week on which I was born,” his letter indicated.

Yet, the Audit Service Board, unconvinced about his explanation, in a letter dated March 2, 2021, said Daniel Yao Domelevo’s explanation and narration on his nationality were irrelevant.

The citinewsroom.com report added that the letter further described Domelevo’s answer to the issue of his date of birth as being inconsistent.

“Observation of your responses and explanations contained in your above reference letter make your date of birth and Ghanaian nationality even more doubtful and clearly establishes that you have made false statements contrary to law.”

On Domelevo’s reference to his baptismal certificate to confirm his date of birth, the Board said that the document “is not a valid document to authenticate your date of birth.”

Additionally, the Board said Domelevo’s reference to a Parish Priest and provision of his contact for further verification of his date of birth is not admissible.

In essence, the Board consequently insisted that the Auditor-General was due for compulsory retirement on June 1, 2020, and was in fact not a Ghanaian but a Togolese.

“Records made available to the Board indicate that your date of retirement was 1st June 2020 and as far as the Audit Service is concerned you are deemed to have retired,” it noted.

In furtherance of this, the Audit Service Board has indicated that it is informing President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo about the new development, awaiting the necessary action to be taken.

“By a copy of this letter, the board is informing the President who is your appointing authority to take necessary action. Additionally, the board is making available to the President all the relevant documents at our disposal.”

In 2020, Daniel Yao Domelevo was asked to proceed on his accumulated leave of 123 days but had the duration extended by 44 more days to include his leave for the year 2020 other than just the initial leave period calculated from his 2017 to 2019 working years.

This was occasioned after it was observed that the Auditor-General had made use of only nine out of his 132 annual leave days since assuming office in December 2016.