• This is according to anti-graft campaigner Vitus Azeem
• He says Akufo-Addo's praise of the then acting A-G, pointed to Akuamoah Asiedu's 'expected' appointment
Anti-corruption crusader and former Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, GII, Vitus Azeem, has said it is no surprise that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo appointed Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu as new Auditor-General.
A September 7, 2021 letter signed by the Chief of staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare confirmed the President's appointment.
The appointment, which according to a Daily Graphic report took retrospective effect from August 27, meant that the then Acting Auditor General had been handed a substantive role barely two months after the president praised his professionalism publicly.
For Azeem, that praise was a precursor to the confirmation and so he was not in any way surprised by the appointment.
In an interview with the state broadcaster, GBC, Vitus said: “I already expected him to be confirmed, just thought that they were going through the process, and especially when the President came out to praise him, that is his style.
“He praised him (the then Acting Auditor General) so that when he is confirmed, nobody will ask questions. So I am not surprised that the Acting Auditor General has been confirmed especially the way his predecessor was pushed out of the scene,” Azeem stressed.
Mr Asiedu, then deputy to ‘celebrated’ Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, was asked to act till a substantive head was appointed. He started his acting role on June 1, 2020, upon the retirement of Domelevo under controversial circumstances.
What Akufo-Addo said about Asiedu in August 2021
Akufo-Addo showered praise on the then acting Auditor-General for his work in the fight against corruption.
The President said since his appointment, he has demonstrated the quality of work and independence of view so far.
“The Acting Auditor-General has demonstrated sufficient quality and independence of view. For instance, he is responsible for some things that are unheard of.
"In our history, the 12 statutory reports that have to be compiled and placed before Parliament in the year of Parliament, this is the first time it has ever been done.
“Even the most touted Auditor-General before him never managed to do it and this one has done it. I think on the basis of the work that he has done, the independence with which he has gone around with his work, if today efforts are made to confirm him, I believe it should be done, and that confirmation process will gather more public support.”
The president was speaking at a meeting with members of the Ghana National Anti-Corruption Coalition at the Jubilee House.
Domelevo, Akufo-Addo and new Auditor General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu