Gabby Asare Okyere-Darko
A leading strategist of the ruling New Patriotic Party NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, says the Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, is engaging in what he calls tangential issues in the Kroll Associates contract case by talking excessively about seemingly unnecessary matters.
According to him, Mr. Domelevo is showing ‘lack of focus’ by accusing Kroll of having being paid for “no work done” when there is already some evidence in court about the fruits of the company’s labour.
He said Kroll Associates was engaged by the government “in 2017 to undertake proper forensic investigations of some complex cases of allegations of corruption” against officials of the erstwhile Mahama administration.
“To reiterate, you may ask, should the Auditor General rather not see the work of Kroll as complementary to his constitutional efforts and be cooperating with them or vice versa? This is what is unfortunate about this whole saga,” he noted in a published piece.
Power Play
“Is there a case of power play going on here that we are not ready to see or is it suggested that the President erred in engaging independent investigators and auditors? Is this where the AG’s focus ought to be? Or, has the AG seen something he is not sharing?” he asked rhetorically.
The NPP strategist said an impression was being created that the Senior Minister had an interest to hide information about the Kroll Associates contract, saying, “It is as if it is a procurement contract for an infrastructural investment or something of that nature which a public official could ordinarily be accused of personal gain.”
Setting Parameters
“I think it is important we set the parameters of the discussion right as some have already suggested loudly that Daniel Yao Domelevo is being pushed out of the way because of this contract and his focus on it is ‘embarrassing’ government.”
Gabby indicated that pontificating about an embarrassment to the government could share “if there were other issues embarrassing government that Ghanaians do not know”, adding “but, the matter which is topical is this Kroll engagement and matters arising.”
Kroll’s View
“Such contracts are not new and are not odd to our system. Ironically, Kroll is not complaining that other people in government are frustrating its work. It is, in fact, the Auditor General, constitutionally charged to guard the public purse, who is rather accusing Kroll Associates of being paid for what he sees to be no work done!”
“Here, a team engaged to help us secure public assets is being accused of being paid for no work done. It sounds serious. But, how serious is this charge? The question is what is the work done or being done? Domelevo wants details! Why isn’t he having them?” he quizzed.
He said, “The documents requested are of details of the work done and being done by Kroll to justify fees paid to them! So what personal interest has the Senior Minister in this to even want the Auditor General out of the way as it has been alleged?” he quizzed, adding, “You may ask yourself, why can’t, as it may seem, the Auditor General, appointed just before one government handed over power to another, be trusted with preliminary investigations into the work of that previous government?”
He continued, “But will that question be legitimate? Is it that he is not trusted to be fair and just to the previous government? Shouldn’t, under normal circumstances, Kroll be seen as working to complement the work of the Auditor General instead of having their work questioned by the AG?”
He also asked why Mr. Domelevo would rather not see the work of Kroll as complementary to his constitutional efforts and be cooperating with the forensic audit firm or vice versa, and described it as the “unfortunate about this whole saga.”
Mr. Otchere-Darko said to suggest that the Senior Minister or Finance Minister has anything to hide on the Kroll contract “when they are not the subjects of investigations but rather those responsible for tasking a team of professionals to help the nation trace assets allegedly procured through corruption actually misses the point by a mile, in one’s view.”
“Simply put, the whole cavil between Daniel Yao Domelevo and Yaw Osafo-Maafo appears to revolve around this Kroll contract. And, if there is more to it then, from ones reading, it is more likely to be in personam than institutionem.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu