GH¢32bn bad debt: Next NDC government will arrest Ofori-Atta, Ernest Addison – Adongo hints

Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Hon. Isaac Adongo has hinted that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Ernest Addison will be arrested and prosecuted for breaching the law following Bank of Ghana’s decision to write off a GH¢32-billion debt owed it by Government.

Mr Adongo, an astute business executive and financial management expert, intimidated that the Governor, the Finance Minister and other persons involved in the violation of the laws, will be prosecuted when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) assumes the reins of power, adding that the perpetrators of the violation cannot be arrested and prosecuted now since they are in power.

“In the regulation governing this Act [the Bank of Ghana Act], there is no threshold, which means that any such write-off must come to Parliament.

So the so-called write-off of GH¢32 billion [by the Bank of Ghana] is an imagination. The law under 97 provides for a surcharge. Is there an opinion of the chief legal officer of the government on this matter? You can’t just go away and write off 32 billion cedis,” he quizzed on Newsfile last Saturday.

“At this moment in time, we know what will happen if you go to Court. So when everybody is left alone: the president is sitting somewhere; the A-G is sitting somewhere; Ken Ofori-Atta is sitting somewhere; and Addison is sitting somewhere; we can now isolate [and arrest them and prosecute].

"At this point, they are together fighting you. So we [the NDC] are very careful to choose our battles,” he announced.

The Bank of Ghana announced that it had written off GH¢32 billion of debt the Government owed it through the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). But the Minority in Parliament said that the debt could not be written off without parliamentary approval.

The Bank of Ghana has however explained that it did no wrong in writing off the debt.