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Former Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo has cautioned against what he described as the auctioning of public positions where people fund political parties in return for appointments in the public service.

According to him, this development may pave the way for some unqualified persons and criminals to find their way into the public sector for their parochial interests.

Daniel Yaw Domelevo made this known during the maiden edition of the Leadership Ethics Seminar Organised by the Africa Ethics Institute in Ho, where he was part of the main speakers.

He called for the establishment of meritocracy in the public sector which he believes will minmimize the rate of corruption and corruption influenced services.

Mr. Domelevo said, “We are in an election year, which I term auction year. We are auctioning public offices. So the highest bidder wins the auction at the end of the day. If we don't look at this auctioning of public offices seriously, what may happen is that, very soon we will have people who are drug pushers funding our election and so will compromise our integrity. It is also possible that terrorists will fund our politicians into office and we will be in trouble.”

He lamented the high incidents of corruption in the country, adding that the canker has become a religion.

Speaking further, Mr. Domelevo made a clarion call for the establishment of an efficient public financial management system, and fiscal decentralisation among other measures to eliminate corruption and protect the public purse which has been left to shrink.

He advocated for reorganising and retooling of the anti-corruption institutions to enable them to deliver their mandates efficiently, adding that “they are too many”.

Mr. Domelevo said the fight against corruption must be "commercialised" where whistleblowers should be allowed to help fight the canker in partnership with anti-corruption institutions.

He therefore called for stringent enforcement of the asset declaration law and implementing a lifestyle audit of public officers to put them in check.

He added that, in order to bring under control, corrupt practices, the country’s leaders should be held accountable for corrupt acts, indicating that “Ghana needs ethical and transformational leaders”.