Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, is asking public officials to eschew from activities that will put them in the position of conflict of interest.

According to him, situations such as performing their official duties partially, recruiting and employing relatives, amount to the conflict of interest.

He was speaking Tuesday, June 25, at a National Dialogue on public accountability organised by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences auditorium in Accra.

The Auditor-General was part of a host distinguished discussants and anti-corruption crusaders as the Commission organised a National Dialogue on ‘Public Accountability: Abuse of Office’.

The dialogue forms part of the Commission’s role in the implementation of EU funded Anti-Corruption, Rule of Law and Accountability Programme (ARAP).

Mr Domelevo was emphatic that public accountability gives room for public office holders to be transparent and answerable to citizens who pay them with their taxes.

“When it comes to my Auditing job, for instance, there is a saying that the Auditor should not only be independent but must be seen as independent,” he said.

Mr Domelevo recounted his personal experience during recruitment to the Audit Service this year and how he dealt with his son.
 

“My son who is almost a Chartered Accountant with a Masters degree, asked me ‘daddy can I apply?’. I asked him to whom? He retorted, ‘but am I not a Ghanaian?’ I answered him, yes you are but you don’t qualify because I am here and I cannot employ you,” he narrated.

Although he admitted to the moderator of the event, Samsom Lardy Anyenini that, that was unfair of him, he explained that he did that to protect his son.

“If I bring him here his future is damaged forever because everything he does people will look on and not correct him and they won’t teach him what he has to know in the job. And in the end, he will not be the professional that he wants to be given the society that we are in.

“I told him for now, I will throw you out there to learn so wait when I leave in two years time then you can apply...then they will give you the tuition you deserve,” he stated.