Many gov’t officials have not taken their leaves since 2017, why come for me? – Domelevo asks Akufo-Addo

The Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, has written a letter to the Presidency urging President Akufo-Addo to contest the directive to proceed on his accumulated leave.

He describes the action of the president as unconstitutional and a breach of the law.

In the letter, he argued that based on recent labour law and practice, “no worker is deemed to have accumulated any leave on account of their having failed, omitted, neglected or even refused to enjoy their right to annual leave, which the law guarantees for their benefit, not the employer.”

“I consider it an honour to be of service to the State and urge that you reconsider the directive in order to protect the sanctity of the labour law, the constitution and the independence of the Auditor-General which is of utmost importance in so far as ensuring that the constitutional principles of probity, transparency and accountability are concerned,” he added.

The President directed Mr Domelevo to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 123 working days.

Mr Domelevo has made use of nine out of his 132 annual leave days since assuming office in December 2016. It was to take effect from Wednesday, July 1, 2020.

The Presidency said the directive was based on sections 20(1) and 31 of the Labour Act, 2003 (651). The first part of section 20 indicates that: “In any undertaking, every worker is entitled to not less than fifteen working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.”

Section 31 says: “Any agreement to relinquish the entitlement to annual leave or to forgo such leave is void.”It also cited as precedent President John Atta Mills asking the then Auditor-General, Edward Dua Agyeman, to also proceed on his 264 days accumulated annual leave back in 2009.

Mr. Domelevo then questioned the legitimacy of the president’s directive citing the number of government who have equally forfeited their leave period but are still at post.

Read Full Statement Below:

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