The Supreme Court has ruled that it was unlawful for President Akufo-Addo to order the former Auditor General Daniel Domelevo to take a leave of absence.
Domelevo was required to take 169 working days of accumulated leave in 2020 as directed by the President.
The Centre for Democratic Development and eight other civil society organizations asked the Supreme Court to rule that the President’s action was illegal and void because they saw it as a slight against the independence of the office.
The failure of the president to revoke the decree despite numerous appeals prompted the lawsuit to be launched in October 2020.
The apex court rendered its decision after a two-year hearing and upheld the applicants’ plea
Background
The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, in June 2020, directed the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 169 working days.
A statement from the Communications Directorate of the Jubilee House further directed Mr Domelevo to hand over all matters relating to his office to his Deputy, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has directed Mr. Yaw Domelevo, the Auditor-General, to take his accumulated leave of 123 working days, according to records available to the Presidency, with effect from Wednesday, 1st July 2020.”
The order for Mr Domelevo to proceed on leave came after the Senior Minister and four other officials from the Ministry of Finance sued Mr Domelevo to clear their names in relation to what was said to be breaches of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) that resulted in their payment of US$1 million to a private UK firm, Kroll and Associates.
