Mr. Ace Ankomah, Managing Partner, Bentsi-Entsill, Letsa and Ankomah, a law firm, on Saturday expressed his support for the establishment of the Judgement Debt Commission.
He therefore called on President John Mahama to deliver on his promise of establishing the Commission to look into issues pertaining to judgement debts.
He said the establishment of such a commission could go a long way to unravel all the mystery surrounding how judgement debts were incurred and who was to blame.
Speaking at the 6th Moderatorial Business Luncheon of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, on the judgment debt saga, Mr Ankomah noted that the establishment of the commission would work towards ensuring that the nation did not incur debts due to negligence.
He called for the empowerment of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to ensure that its summons was binding and mandatory for those who are supposed to appear before it.
“The PAC is a parliamentary body and as we know, the parliament is made up of people we elect. This makes it mandatory for people who are summoned to appear before it”, he explained.
He expressed concern about the refusal of government officials to seek parliamentary approval before they endorse loans and the payment of judgement debts.
He cited ignorance and lack of understanding of contracts on the part of some government officials as some of the reasons behind incurring of judgment debts.
He said many third world countries had lost cases brought against them in international courts due to their lack of understanding of clauses in contracts they signed.
“We should be careful when contracting loans, since not all loans come with good and favourable contracts. This country has had to pay a lot of judgement debts due to our inability to understand.”
Lawyer Ankomah appealed to successive governments to endeavour to continue with the projects started by their predecessors, since the neglect of such projects sometimes causes the country to lose money.
“Government is a continuous institution and so the liability created by a previous government automatically binds its successor”, he said.
The Moderatorial Luncheon of the Presbyterian Church was instituted in 2007 as the church’s official corporate social networking programme.
The event, organized annually, brings together major players in both the public and private sectors to deliberate on issues and programmes of the church.
The luncheon is also for raising funds for the church’s strategic programmes and activities.
Right Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, expressed concern about the rampant payment of judgment debts to individuals and institutions.
He urged Ghanaians to vote for politicians who had the nation’s well-being at heart and asked politicians to be mindful of their actions and utterances.
He said the payment of judgement debts had become rampant because some politicians benefited from it, adding that, politicians had failed this country due to their greed.
“We pay judgement debts to individuals and institutions when communities lack essential facilities such as roads”, he said.
