Former Deputy Attorney-General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, says President Akufo-Addo did not deliberately set out to act unconstitutionally when he ordered former Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo to proceed on leave.
According to him, the president was convinced he was acting within his constitutional rights and thus cannot be accused of abusing his executive powers.
His defence of the president followed a suggestion from Inusah Fuseini that the president could face impeachment as a result of his conduct.
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According to Mr Fuseini, the president’s action was a fundamental breach of the Constitution and in violation of his presidential oath.
“He must suffer the penalty for that. Until we begin to hold our presidents accountable, and not give excuses for their acts of impunity, then we are not going to make progress. That’s why I don’t think that this decision [Supreme Court’s ruling] must be prospective,” he said on Newsfile on Saturday.
Reacting to the statement, Mr. Kpemka noted that unless it is established the president acted maliciously and in deliberate contravention of the law, he should not be made to face any consequence for his actions.
“I am saying that precedence guides governance and so if precedence guides governance and His Excellency the president in his judgement wrote this particular letter and said proceed on leave and which has now been declared to be unconstitutional;
“And at the time of writing the letter His Excellency the president was exercising his executive power which is given to him by the constitution and he did it knowing very well in him that what he was doing was right and in consonance and on all fours with the constitution which has later been declared null and void, are you able to establish that at the time of writing this letter and asking the person to proceed on leave the president was deliberate and willful and knew that what he was doing was unconstitutional and went ahead to do it? Are you able to establish that?” he queried.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision described as unconstitutional the directive from the presidency that asked former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo to proceed on leave.
The court also described as unconstitutional the president’s appointment of an Acting Auditor General while there was a substantive Auditor-General.
The presidency in July 2020 asked the then Auditor General to proceed on leave.
When Mr Domelevo pointed this out as unlawful, his leave was further extended from 123 days to 167 effective July 1, 2020.
Nine civil society groups sued the Attorney General over these directives.
They included the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Ghana Integrity Initiative, (GII), Citizen Movement Ghana, Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), and Parliamentary Network Africa.
They contended that the directives were unlawful since the president does not have the power to exercise such disciplinary control over independent bodies.
The Court, however, opted not to issue any other orders including stopping Mr Domelevo from proceeding on leave since he has since retired.
The case was heard by Justices Nene Amegatcher, Prof Ashie Kotey, Mariama Owusu, Lovelace Johnson, Getrude Torkonoo, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu and Emmanuel Kulendi.
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