Fighting corruption requires lion’s heart — Domelevo

The Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo, has described the fight against corruption as a herculean task that requires people with a lion’s heart to succeed.

He, however, said it was a fulfilling thing to do, knowing that it was a sacrifice in the national interest.

“I have consistently said when you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back; but when you fight corruption well, you will be acknowledged,” he said moments after he was declared the winner of the maiden Integrity Personality of the Year Award at a ceremony in Accra last Monday.

Integrity Personality

Mr Domelevo was one of the winners of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) Integrity Awards held to climax the 20th anniversary of the organisation.

For his prize, he was presented with a plaque and a laptop computer from the GII.

He was honoured alongside four other anti-corruption crusaders — Mr Manasseh Azure Awuni, a freelance investigative journalist; Mr David Boateng Asante, the Managing Director of the Ghana Publishing Company; Mr Ato Ulzen-Appiah, the Director of the Ghana Think Foundation, a civil society organisation; and Mr Edward Sowah Adjetey, an engineer at the State Housing Company Limited.

The DVLA won the prize for the Policy and Administrative Reforms category, while awards in the Transparency and Social Accountability and the Efficient Public Service Delivery categories went to the Ministry of Finance and the Judicial Service respectively.

Positive mindset

The Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Joseph Whittal, commended Mr Domelevo and the other awardees for standing tall in the fight against corruption and maintaining high levels of integrity in the discharge of their duties.

He observed that anti-corruption crusaders and some state agencies had done well in the fight against corruption and needed to be encouraged to continue with the good work.

“For me, I think the time has come to approach the fight against corruption from the position of the cup being full rather than the cup being half empty.

If we have to fight corruption well, let us look at the positives and improve on it,” he stressed.