Monumentally influential member of the governing New Patriotic Party( NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has blamed his much-criticized comment that the bar for the measure of integrity, which won the Auditor General the prize as the Integrity Personality of the Year on a misleading report by Joy FM.

Following the award of the Integrity Personality of the Year to Auditor General Daniel Yaw Domelevo by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Asare Otchere-Darko, while congratulating him, remarked that if merely saving the country an amount of 60 million Cedis was what won him the award, then the bar for integrity had been lowered.

This comment of his received much criticism from the public, with many correcting him on the estimated amount of money, saved the state by Mr Domelevo.

But in a reply on his Facebook wall to the criticism, he argued that it was Joy FM that made him conclude that Mr Domelevo had been awarded because of the paltry savings of 60 million to the state through his work as Auditor General.

He also debunked purported reports by the same Joy FM that he said Mr Domelevo did not deserve the Integrity Personality Award.

“I’m told Joy FM just reported that I have said the Auditor General does not deserve the Integrity Award because the bar was set too low. How could I congratulate a person I say is not deserving? I congratulated him and I still stand by that. Joy FM was my source of information about the award and their news item cited some 60m savings. They should focus on their own news item on the matter and leave Domelevo to enjoy his deserving award,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, several notable personalities including Mrs Mary Awelana Addah, Programmes Manager at GII, have stated the Mr Asare Otchere-Darko’s commentary on the award was simply uninformed and he should have, as an influential member of society, known better before commenting.