Domelevo defends MoE accountant, demands PAC Chair’s apology

Former Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo has taken issue with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for reprimanding a Ministry of Education (MoE) accountant. He insisted the officer deserves praise for protecting public funds rather than public criticism.

In a Facebook post, Domelevo said he “vehemently disagrees with the PAC chair, Hon. Abena Osei Asare, when she chided the MoE Accountant from Donkorkrom instead of praising him.” He explained that the accountant froze a teacher’s salary after discovering an attempt to illegally claim additional payments.

“If I heard the exchange correctly, the teacher in question validated his own records in order to unlawfully receive additional salary,” Domelevo noted. “All that the Accountant ‘did wrong’ is to put embargo on the teacher’s salary in order to recover the unlawful payment. This action of the teacher may qualify for theft, fraud, embezzlement, misconduct or corruption.”

Domelevo argued that the accountant acted within the law, citing Article 187(7)(b) of the Constitution, which mandates the Auditor-General to “disallow all expenditures contrary to law and surcharge the one who authorised the payment or the one whose misconduct or negligence occasioned the loss to the state.”

He further dismissed the PAC chair’s claim that financial regulations allow only a 40% recovery of such payments. “I have checked and cannot find the law that the Hon. Chair purports to rely on. The Chair may want to point me to which section of the PFM Act or the PFM regulations, in the absence of which she owes the MoE Accountant an unqualified apology,” Domelevo stated.

On why full repayment was justified, he stressed: “Some may wish to ask why 100% and not a fraction thereof. 100% because he unlawfully took the salary in advance and if he wants to rely on equity, he must come with clean hands — this teacher has dirty hands, hence his misbehaviour cannot be justified in law or policy. Hon PAC Chair please come again.”

Domelevo’s comments come amid PAC’s heightened push for accountability. At the same sitting, the committee referred Jacob Ahadzi, Director of Internal Audit at the Ministry of Finance, to the Attorney-General for prosecution after he admitted awarding contracts worth GH¢1.3 million without proper approval, breaching procurement rules.

PAC Ranking Member Samuel Atta Mills reaffirmed the committee’s hard stance: “We have no choice but to recommend you to the Attorney-General for prosecution. When it comes to procurement, we are not going to compromise.”

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For Domelevo, however, the accountant’s case highlights what he sees as an unfair approach. He maintains that those who act to safeguard state resources should be acknowledged, not vilified.