Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu says President Nana Akufo-Addo has lost a lot of reputation for acting unconstitutionally in the matter of the former Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo who was forced by the President to proceed on leave before his retirement.

According to him, even though Mr Domelevo prompted the presidency about the constitutional breach, the President did not barge.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Monday, he said the President was touted as someone who had no equal, however, his conduct in Domelevo’s case has changed the dynamics.

“He has lost a lot of reputation, so I am sure future presidents will be very careful not to go near such conduct,” he said.

https://myjoyonline.com/proceed-on-leave-mantra-should-be-a-thing-of-the-past-supreme-court/

Mr Kpebu and Labour consultant, Austin Gamey who also spoke on Top Story, have both called on President Akufo-Addo to apologize for the constitutional breach.

Mr Gamey said he is surprised the President to date has not done the needful after the Supreme Court declared his action as unconstitutional.

“I am surprised they have not done it yet. To be honest with you error means error, and when that error remains it is not a fine thing,” he said.

https://myjoyonline.com/im-surprised-nana-addo-hasnt-apologised-after-supreme-court-ruling-on-domelovos-forced-leave-gamey/

According to Mr Gamey, although the harm has already been caused, it is not too late for the President to apologise to Ghanaians.

“Administratively, the Chief of Staff should be seen to be doing this. By writing and letting the President know that this must go public and everybody would applaud them if they should do it,” he said.

He added that if the President fails to heed the calls, “it will remain a debt forever.”

Mr Kpebu shared the view that President Akufo-Addo’s apology will show that he and his secretary are remorseful for their conduct.

“.. this is Ghana, we said the President is A-rated.. so if now in hindsight it turned out that he was that wrong, I think an apology will do. Yes, he should render one, especially in these times when he has lost the whole nation.

“You see that the whole nation is no longer with him, one error too many, the economy – he sunk us into too much trouble and he has not rendered an apology for it…maybe he can add this Domelevo case to the economic decline he has thrown us into and render one composite apology to cover the two to heal the nation,” he told Blessed Sogah.

In July 2020, the presidency asked the then Auditor-General, Mr Domelevo to proceed on leave.

In a letter signed by Nana Asante Bediatuo, the Secretary to the President said “The attention of the President of the Republic has been drawn to records and documents made available to this Office by the Audit Service, that indicate that your date of birth is June 1, 1960 and that in accordance with article 199 (1) of the Constitution, your date of retirement as Auditor-General was June 1, 2020,” the letter said.

Akufo-Addo retires Domelevo

When Mr Domelevo pointed this out as unlawful, his leave was further extended from 123 days to 167 effective July 1, 2020.

Domelevo wasn’t forced out of office – Akufo-Addo

Consequently, President Akufo-Addo later explained that Mr Domelevo was not hounded out of office.

According to him, Mr Domelevo’s removal was due to his attainment of the national retirement age of 60. Against this backdrop, nine civil society groups sued the Attorney General over these directives.

https://myjoyonline.com/asking-domelevo-to-proceed-on-leave-unconstitutional-supreme-court/

On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision declared unconstitutional the directive from the presidency. The Court, however, opted not to issue any other orders including stopping Mr Domelevo from proceeding on leave since he has retired.

The former Auditor-General has welcomed the ruling. According to him, he is “happy” that ruling confirms his stance that the office of the president was on the wrong path with his forced leave.

However, in court today [Monday], the Supreme Court stated that the practice where public service workers are directed to ‘proceed on leave’ should be a thing of the past.