President Nana Akufo-Addo has re-emphasised that his government did not force former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo out of office.

According to him, Mr Domelevo had attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 and, thus, needed to go.

In an interview with CNN on Monday, 3 May 2021, the President said: “There’s a time for retiring, which is prescribed by statute, not my making”.

“If you are 60 years old, you’re supposed to no longer be able to work in the public service”.

In a letter dated 3 March 2021, the President, through his secretary, Nana Bediatuo Asante, 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 1st June 1960, and that in accordance with article 199 (1) of the Constitution, your date of retirement as Auditor-General was 1st June 2020.”

“Based on this information, the President is of the view that you have formally left office,” the President said.

Mr Domelevo, prior to his retirement, was asked to proceed on a 167-day accumulated leave.

President Akufo-Addo also said his government has achieved a lot in terms of fighting corruption.

He said he was content with the progress he has made so far since, in his view, Ghana’s anti-corruption ranking has “gone up several notches.”

“Am I satisfied that we’ve been effective? I will say yes”, the President answered to a direct question.

“A lot has been done, and it is reflected in Ghana’s growing position and rankings of corruption in the world”, he noted.

“We’ve gone up several notches since I came into office because we are dealing with these matters at the basic level,” explained the President.

According to him, Ghana’s anti-corruption institutions “were very poorly resourced” prior to his assumption of office.

“We can talk all we like about corruption and make all the wonderful statements but if the instruments at your disposal for dealing with it are weak and blunt, you will get no result,” Mr Akufo-Addo noted.