JUDGEMENT DEBT CHIEF GOES WILD

Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday November 29, 2012

The Sole-Commissioner appointed by President John Dramani Mahama to investigate the payments of Judgement Debts (JD) has fired the salvo describing critics of the fact-finding commission as “making statements grounded on mistaken premises.”

Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal said at the maiden public sitting of the Commission yesterday in Accra that “it is important for developing an enlightened democratic culture in our society to avoid such hasty, premature and prejudiced comments and criticisms.”

Since the government announced the setting up of the ‘Commission of Enquiry into the payment of Judgement Debt and Akin’ under C.I. 79 to investigate the frivolous and dubious payments of huge monies to undeserving individuals and  companies, there have been varied opinions, with some saying that there would be no action taken even if perpetrators are found.

But Justice Apau appeared not happy with the criticisms and said they were unfortunate because “none of the commentators and critics, it would appear, had made any effort to see the Constitutional Instrument itself by which the Commission was established.

He said the failure for critics to appraise themselves with facts has led to “comments and criticisms that were founded on mistaken premises.”

“It is embarrassing and confusing to the public when such unfounded and premature comments come from politicians, even more so, when they emanate from lawyers who are supposed to know and understand better our constitution which forms the foundation of every act or omission in this country.”

He said that in order to allay what he calls “fears, anxieties, misunderstandings which might have been created in the country on account of such early unfortunate comments and criticisms” he found it “expedient and duty bound at this very first sitting of the commission to enlighten the public on the purpose and aim of its creation.”

Justice Apau said that the whole judgement debt puzzle was sparked off by revelations made in the Auditor General’s Annual Report to Parliament with regard to certain payments made to some individuals and companies tagged as Judgement Debt between 2009 and 2011.

“Since this revelation came into the public domain, a lot of debate and discussions have been held by all shades of minds on the matter, not to mention the accusations and counter accusations that have been made by several people, mostly politicians from all political divides, civil society, social commentators and the public against all manner of persons including some current and former Ministers of state, public servants for their alleged involvement in the said payments which many Ghanaians find very untoward and disturbing.”

He said it was in reaction to the general confusion and the apprehension that the government is trying to cover up the misdeeds of its ministers and public servants involved in the alleged outrageous payments that the President established the commission to unearth the facts about the payments.

He said the commission’s mandate is to “ascertain the causes of any inordinate payments made from public funds in satisfaction of judgement debts since the 1992 Constitution came into force.”

Justice Apau also said the commission is also to “ascertain the causes of any inordinate payments made from public funds and financial losses arising from arbitration awards, negotiated settlements and akin processes since the 1992 Constitution came into force.

He said the commission is mandated to make recommendation to the government to ensure that as far as practicable the instances of judgment debts are limited and also that the government does not incur undue financial loss when it does business with the private sector.

The judge said that the commissioner’s mandate would not conflict with the statutory duties of all state institutions including EOCO, the police among others, mandated to conduct investigations into such issues as well as the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and the courts.

“This means that some of the notions in both the print and electronic media to the effect that this commission was established to either kill, whitewash or review the criminal cases or other civil cases involving the payments of various amounts to some persons and institutions which are already in court, are unfounded and quiet unfortunate.”

He said the existence of the commission cannot stop the state from taking civil action to recover any public, money which the state has found to have been wrongly paid out to anybody or company.

He urged everybody with information to volunteer to ensure that the commission is able to complete its work and added that so far there have been responses from a lot of people who are willing to testify or volunteer information.