The Supreme Court has in a unanimous decision described as unconstitutional the directive from the Presidency that asked former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo to proceed on leave.
The Presidency in July 2020 asked the then Auditor General to proceed on leave because he had used only nine out of his 132 annual leave days since his appointment in December 2016.
President Akufo-Addo in a statement dated Monday, June 29, and signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, directed Mr Domelevo to take his accumulated annual leave of 123 days from Wednesday, July 1, and hand over all matters relating to his office to Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, the Deputy Auditor-General, to act as Auditor-General, "until his return from his well-deserved leave."
The statement explained that the President's decision was based on sections 20 (1) and 31 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) which apply to all workers, including public office holders such as the Auditor-General.
Mr Domelevo in a response to the presidential directive asked President Akufo-Addo to reconsider his directive for him to proceed on his accumulated leave.
According to Mr Domelevo, although he was aware that his work was "embarrassing the government", the directive had "serious implications for the constitutional independence of the office of the Auditor-General."
The Centre for Democratic Development and eight other Civil Society Organizations who described the move as an affront to the independence of the office applied to the Supreme Court for a declaration that the action by the President was unconstitutional and null and void.
The suit filed in October 2020 was necessitated by the failure of the president to rescind the directive after several appeals.
After a two-year hearing, the apex court delivered its judgment, upholding the plea of the applicants.
The case was heard by Justices Nene Amegatcher, Prof Ashie Kotey, Mariama Owusu, Lovelace Johnson, Getrude Torkonoo, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu and Emmanuel Kulendi.