Daniel Yao Domelevo, the former Auditor-General, has stated that the Supreme Court was looking out for itself when it ruled that then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo committed an illegality by compelling him to go on leave.
In an interview with JoyNews, Domelevo noted that the Supreme Court arrived at that decision because it noticed that ruling otherwise would have set a bad precedent for all independent institutions.
He criticized the court for its failure to quickly pass a verdict on the issue, comparing it to the expeditious manner in which the same court handled the issue of former Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin against the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.
"When I read the judgment, I now understood it. It was not a judgment in my favor; it was in their own favor because they stated in their judgment that if they agreed with the president, one day, the EC chair could be asked to go on leave and the judges sitting on the case could be asked to go on leave.
"To protect themselves, they had to protect the office of the Auditor-General. But why couldn't it happen quickly? The speed with which Afenyo-Markin was able to get the judiciary, why couldn't it happen in my case? My issue was another case of interpretation, but it took three years," he said.
Domelevo also opined that the issue of the public's distrust of the judiciary is not a perception but a reality.
He urged the Chief Justice to initiate measures towards enhancing the reputation of the judiciary in the view of the public.
"The issue of bias is not a perception. We have cases to justify it. In my cases with Zoomlion and Kroll & Associates, I still think justice was not done," he said.
It will be recalled that the Supreme Court in May 2023 ruled that Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to force former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo to go on leave was unconstitutional.
EK