Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Ivan Addae-Mensah has described as saddening the level of corruption in the country.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews, the academic and one-time politician said leaders are not giving the needed support to those mandated by law to fight corruption.

In his view, corruption instead fights them back.

“But now, I get very sad especially when you see that people who are attempting to fight the canker [corruption], don’t appear to have the support of the powers that be.

“I may be wrong but I think that the general perception among a lot of people in the country that if you are seen to be someone who want to fight corruption then be careful you don’t step on anybody’s toes,” he told JoyNews’ Benjamin Akakpo.

Commenting on the forced retirement of former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, the former VC did not mince words when stating his displeasure.

He noted that grounds on which the former Auditor-General was asked to exit his position is questionable.

For him, Mr Domelevo should have been given the opportunity to publicly defend himself.

“What worries me is the grounds upon which he was made to step aside. Being told to go on a very long leave, his nationality being questioned, his age brought into question. Not having the chance to publicly give his side of the story and then asked to go on retirement,” he said.

Since government asked Mr Domelevo to take a 167 days leave and subsequently forced him to retire, a section of Ghanaians have questioned the commitment by the Akufo-Addo government to fight graft.

Already, the menace has been described by many as the biggest pillar in the country’s economic growth.

According to Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the country loses close to US$3 billion to graft annually.

Meanwhile, it was a topical issue in the build-up to the NPP’s 2016 election campaign with President Akufo-Addo affirming his resolve to eradicate the canker when he is elected.