'I Can't Grant Your Request' - Pres. Addo To Domelevo| Globecalls.Com

President Akufo-Addo has dismissed requests by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other citizens demanding the reinstatement of Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo after he was ordered to take his accumulated leave.

According to the president, the basis on which the requests are being made were taken into consideration prior to the decision, therefore, bringing back the Auditor-General on those bases is impossible.

“The president encourages people to be citizens and not spectators and therefore, your petition is welcome and its contents have duly been noted.

“However, the position of the President as contained in the letter dated July 3, 2020, from this Office to the Auditor-General remains the same,” a statement signed by Secretary to the President Nana Asante Bediatuo said.

President Akufo-Addo last month ordered the Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo to take an accumulated leave of 123 days, which was further extended to 167 days.

Although the President justified his actions with sections 20 (1) and 31 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), the decision has been one that has received massive backlash from some members of the public including the Coalition of CSOs in the country.

The act, according to the Coalition, threatens the independence of the Auditor-General and downplays Ghana’s effort to fight corruption.

Subsequently, London-based Ghanaian Korieh Duodu, and Lolan Sagoe-Moses on July 8, 2020, petitioned president Akufo-Addo to reinstate the Auditor-General but the president insists he cannot grant any of the requests.

“The arguments made in your petition were considered prior to the President taking the decision to request Daniel Domelevo to take his accumulated leave from 1st July 2020.

“Accordingly, the president is unable to grant the request in your petition,” the statement further said.