Nominee calls for review of law on causing financial loss to the State

Accra, April 1, GNA - Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, nominee for the position of Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, on Wednesday told the Appointments Committees that the Law on willfully causing financial loss to the State should not be scrapped but reviewed.

He said the law had its good and bad side because it could be a deterrent or disincentive for public office holders and what was needed was to give it a second look since it was also nebulous.

The nominee, who was being vetted, said he could not come out clearly on whether the executive could manipulate the judiciary. Mr Barton-Odro said as a lawyer, he needed evidence before he could come out clearly on executive influence on the judiciary. On how to deal with mob justice, the nominee said delays in the delivery of justice was one reason why people would normally take the law into their hands.

He said public education was one way of handling the issue of mob justice and the creation of more specialized courts to handle various cases could also speed up justice.

Alhaji Saani Iddi, nominee for the post of Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, when he appeared before the Committee, said although he was contractor in the housing sector who owned a company, he would not allow his company to become a source of conflict of interest to his ministerial work in terms of bidding for contracts. Asked about his achievements during his tenure as District Chief Cxecutive in one of the districts in the Northern Region, the nominee said he helped in the provision of schools to the area.