Private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini, has celebrated the former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo for exercising the powers given to him by the Supreme Court to surcharge and disallow when malfeasance occurred in institutions.
Mr Anyenini believed that the power to surcharge and disallow was best in the fight against corruption however, Mr Domelevo who ensured that this was done was sacrificed when he was asked to go on compulsory retirement by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He further expressed concerns regarding the failure of the current Auditor-General to exercise the powers to surcharge.
Speaking at an anticorruption forum in Accra, Mr Anyenini who is also a broadcaster said “Every year, we read, plain-speaking, the deliberate theft of the state purse that is revealed in the Auditor General’s reports. Very fortunately, through the fight by OccupyGhana the Supreme Court empowered the Auditor General to be able to surcharge and disallow when these malfeasance happen.
“The one Auditor General who was lucky to come into office at a time when this legal victory was won and who started to implement it fiercely has been sacrificed.
“The current Auditor General unfortunately, is disinterested in the power of surcharging and disallowance that has been handed him by law and by the confirmation of the Supreme Court.”
He further indicated that constitutional and statutorily established solutions to the corruption menace are failing.
“We need to look for the solutions because it would appear that even the constitutional and statutorily enshrined solutions are failing us.
“It is not that long ago when a man appointed and entrusted with the public purse, in a very sensitive office to oversee procurement at the very top decided rather to convert that office to his personal gains.
“CHRAJ investigated after Manasseh Awuni Azure, my client, had exposed him on how he was using that office to further his personal interest by operating companies and selling contracts.
“We became aware of how a man whose accounts had very little at the time of taking office had managed to amass millions in Ghana cedis and in dollar denominated accounts.
“CHRAJ was able to reveal all of that. What has been the cost to him for such a sin against all of us ? He lost his job. Is that the end if the story?
“Some citizens have lost trust in the systems that have been put in place to check this situation,” he said.
Source:3news.com