Akufo-Addo Maintains Domelevo’s Deputy As Acting Auditor-General
The tussle between the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, and the Audit Service Board has taken a new twist, with a letter from the presidency maintaining the current acting Auditor-General.
“Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu will act as Auditor-General until the president appoints a substantive Auditor-General,” the letter stated.
President Akufo-Addo, in June 2020, asked Mr Domelevo to take an accumulated leave of 123 days, which was later extended to 167 days, effective July 1.
President Akufo-Addo subsequently gave the nod for Mr Akuamoah Asiedu, a deputy Auditor-General, to assume responsibilities as head of the Audit Service.
Mr Domelevo challenged the claims of the Board of the Audit Service and reported to work.
But a letter from the presidency sides with the Audit Service Board and has acknowledged Mr Domelevo’s retirement.
“The attention of the President has been drawn to records and documents made available to his office by the Audit Service, indicating that your date of birth as 1st June 1960, and in accordance with Article 199 (1) of the constitution, your date of retirement as Auditor General was 1st June 2020”
“The president thanks you for your service to the nation and wishes you the best in your future endeavours,” the letter read.
The letter was delivered to Mr Domelevo in his home.
Background
A day before Mr Domelevo resumed work, the Audit Service Board stated in a letter that he was due for retirement.
What are the concerns of the Board?
The Board arrived at a conclusion based on what it said were documents obtained from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on Mr Domevelo’s official age.
“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,” Board Chair of the Audit Service, Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman, stated in a letter dated March 2.
It was after the Board had asked Mr Domelevo to provide the explanation for the differences in his age and nationality in SSNIT documents.
The Audit Service Board stated in an earlier letter dated February 26, 2021, that records at (SSNIT) completed and signed by Mr Domelevo indicated his “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.”
It added that on October 25, 1992, Mr Domelevo completed and signed a Change of Beneficiary Nomination form with SSNIT, stating his nationality as a Ghanaian and his hometown 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,” the letter added.
Background
Nationality challenge
In his response dated February 27, 2021, Mr Domelevo explained that his grandfather, Martin Demelevo Tetteh, was a Ghanaian from Boye-Doe Wem, which is part of the Gandgmebiawe clan of the Greater Accra Region, who migrated to Togo and stayed at Agbatofe.
His father, Augustine Domelevo, who was born in Agbatofe, migrated from Togo to the then Gold Coast and settled in Kwaku Adeemra.
“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 explained.
“According to your letter, I stated my tribe as Togolese. If so, then it is certainly a mistake because Togolese is not and never been the name of a tribe”.
Date of birth claims
Mr Domelevo further explained that he got to know his true birth date “when I checked my information in the baptismal register of the Catholic Church in Adeemmra.”
According to Mr Domelevo, the Catholic register captured his native name ‘Yaw’, which included his birth date as June 1, 1961.
This, he said, conforms to the Thursday day name (Yaw). He further provided details of a Parish Priest named Rev Fr Dion for any verification.
This prompted the change at SNNIT on October 25, 1992, to reflect his date of birth as June 1, 1961, and the hometown to Ada in the Greater Accra Region.
He added that he was sure he provided legal backing otherwise SSNIT would not have affected the change.