Ben Ephson, a pollster and Managing Editor of the Dispatch, has said the resignation of Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, will make it easier for President Akufo-Addo to initiate his decision on whether to retain him or not from public office.
Based on reliable information available to him, Ben Ephson revealed in an interview that the senior minister has tended his resignation, further divulging that per some opinions in the public domain, his action could have well necessitated the leave undertaken by the Auditor-General.
“With regards to Osafo-Maafo, I think that he has made it easier for the President, I am reliably informed that he has tended in his resignation.
“With him, there have been a few issues which have played out in the media. I think that people think that Mr. Domelevo being asked to go on leave arose from some of the things that he did.
“And so I think for Mr. Osafo-Maafo, his resignation may make it a bit easier for the president to ask him to leave”.
Mr. Ephson also disclosed that there was a view among the general public that Mr. Osafo-Maafo interfered with the efforts of the President to fight corruption.
He explained that the public reckoned that he was the mastermind behind the decision to ask the Auditor General Daniel Domelevo to proceed on leave.
This situation, he insisted came at a huge cost to President Akufo-Addo with some votes in the 2020 general elections.
He further explained that, the president’s decision to ask Mr. Domelevo to proceed on leave raised profound concerns about his willingness to fight graft especially when the Auditor General was tackling some corruption-related issues at the time he was asked to go home and rest.
“This is the president’s last term, and the NPP has a history of always tearing apart when it comes to selecting flagbearer.
“Presidents in their first term turn to be careful because they will need some of the people along the line for their second term.
“They get into their second and final term and maybe they are at times bolder than in their first term in terms of taking certain decisions”.
Additionally, Mr. Ephson intimated that the President is going to have some teething issues in his second term and there is palpable chagrin amongst the general public.
“In his last term the president is going to have a few tricky issues. He gives assignment at cabinet level and he will be the best person to judge. For us in the media we will discuss it”.
In light of this, he posited the President’s first term in office “came on the back of fighting corruptions” and so with the “incidence involving Osafo-Maafo, incidence involving Energy, incidence involving Finance Minister, people who voted for President Akufo-Addo in 2016 did that because of his determination to fight corruption along the line will feel disappointed”.
In June, President, Nana Akufo-Addo, directed the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 123 working days.
A statement from the Communications Directorate of the Jubilee House further directed Mr. Domelevo to hand over all matters relating to his office to his Deputy, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
The president however, extended the accumulated annual leave of the Auditor-General, from 123 working days to 167 working days.
The Presidency maintained that the Auditor-General does not fall under the category of workers who cannot take annual leave based on the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) hence, Mr. Domelevo cannot relinquish his entitlement to the annual leave.
