Amma Abuakwaa Gaisie is the Solicitor-General in Ghana.
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday January 25, 2012.
The Solicitor-General, Amma Abuakwaa Gaisie has
said it is possible that people who claimed judgement debts or compensations
from the government could have reapplied to claim again because there are no
documents covering the release of funds at her outfit.
She said the situation could arise because all the
agencies involved in the release of funds did not notify the Attorney-General’s
Department after recommending payments and that could make claimants to come
back to them to restart another process.
Mrs. Gaisie was giving evidence on Wednesday at
the Commission of Enquiry set up by President John Dramani Mahama to
investigate the payments of Judgement Debt (JD) by the state.
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, was appointed
by President John Dramani Mahama after public uproar over the huge payments.
Notable among them were payments made to CP (€94
million) and the never-ending case of GH¢51.2million parted to the self-styled
National Democratic Candidate (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, both of
which many believed were dubious and frivolous.
The Solicitor-General said that the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and Controller and Accountant-General
never writes to them to inform them about payments made and receipts.
She told Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the
Court of Appeal that “the only time we get to know about payments are when
plaintiffs run back to us about interests. Sometimes they come back to us to
say that they agreed on the amount under duress.”
She said that it is in the past 3 or 4 years that MOFEP
and other allied agencies have started sending copies of receipts of judgement
debt payments and compensation paid by the state.
“Since I joined the AG’s Department, we have made
our assessments and sent recommendation for payment to the ministry but the
ministry has not been able to notify us about funds released to plaintiffs
based on our work. It is only in recent years that they have been sending us
receipts.”
The Solicitor-General said they were even trying
hard to open a file for letters covering release of funds for payment of
judgement debts and compensation.
She said that in 2008, then Attorney-General Joe
Ghartey attempted to address the problem when he sat up a committee to look at
the payment of debts and compensations paid by the state and the committee met
only once.
She said since Mr. Ghartey left office nobody has
been able to follow up on what the minister sought to do.
She said when it comes to judgement debts, the
AG’s Department liaises with MOFEP in the negotiations including the
calculation of interests for plaintiffs.
“I think there is the need for coordination. It
could result in double payment. We want a situation where at every given time
when you pick the file you know what was paid and how much was paid,” when
asked by Justice Apau if the agencies were collaborating in the payment of judgement
debts and compensation.
The Solicitor-General tendered in evidence table
of judgement debts with suit numbers from 2001 to 2011 but said they were still
searching for more evidence.
She also said that they were yet to present
similar documents from 1992 to 1999 because of the lack of proper record
keeping on the part of state agencies.
Apart from the list, the commission is also
seeking list of notices of intention to sue from 1992 to 2012, list of cases
that were settled without surfacing in the courts, list of cases that were
actually filed in court as well as list
of cases filed that did not see full trial.
The commission is also asking the
Solicitor-General to furnish it with list of cases that went full trial and
their outcome indicating the amount involved, petition filed, list of suits pending against the state on either
compensation or debt claims arising from either torts committed by state
employees, breach of contract among others.
The Solicitor-General said that her office was busily
searching for all the documents requested by the commission but the commission
would have to give them more time to do the search because it has been hectic
getting the information.
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