Debt C’ssion disowns Tsatsu on “debt collector” comment

The Judgment Debt Commission says the description of former President John Kufuor as a “debt collector” by former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) boss, Tsatsu Tsikata, was not an opinion of the Commission.

Tsikata told the Commission that he found it puzzling, Kufuor’s intervention in getting the GNPC to pay a debt of US$19.5 million to French Bank Societe Generale.

Some opposition Members of Parliament have demanded the Commission apologises to Kufuor for allowing Tsikata to “denigrate” him with such a description.

Kufuor’s Office described Tsikata’s comment as “irresponsible” and “reckless”.

The Commission’s Lead Counsel, Domiti Sorkpor, told XYZ News Monday that Tsatsu’s description of the former President was his own “opinion”.

“If Tsatsu said anything, if he said what you said he said, that was his opinion, but that was never the opinion of the Commission”, Sorkpor said, adding that: “…As to whether there will be an apology or not, I’m not in a position to tell”.

Asked if he thought the Sole Commissioner couldn’t have compelled Tsikata to retract those words, Sorkpor said: “…We do not have anything to do about what the persons who appeared before the Commission came to say…we just want the truth; we wanted the story of everybody and that was all that we did”.

Pressed further about whether the Commission saw nothing wrong with Tsikata’s choice of words in reference to Kufuor, Sorkpor said: “…We are saying that was his opinion; as to whether the Commission does not anything wrong with it, this is a Commission that has been set up by an Act, the Commission is supposed to do its work, until we have finished our work, we are not here to fight anybody”.