Government of Ghana to pay NDK Financial Services over GHS 100m judgment debt

The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed an application brought by a private legal practitioner to restrain NDK Financial Services from taking any steps to enforce a judgment running into several millions of cedis against the public accounts of Ghana.

The facts of the case are that in 2005 the Ministry of Energy representing the Government of Ghana awarded a contract to a company called Ahaman Enterprise Ltd to transport electricity high-tension poles and other electrical materials to selected locations in Ghana.

The company contracted a loan facility totalling about GHS 350,000.00 at an interest rate of 6.5% per month from the NDK Financial Services to enable it to execute the contract.

The Ministry of Energy undertook to make any payment due under the contract in the joint names of the company and NDK Financial Services. But the Ministry of Energy failed to do so and made some payments directly to the company and not in the joint names of to NDK Financial Services and the company.

On the basis of these facts NDK has secured a judgment debt of over GHS100 against the Government of Ghana to be paid jointly by the company and the Government.

The private legal practitioner who commenced the action is seeking to stop the Government of Ghana from paying the judgment debt.

He wants the Supreme Court to declare the undertaking or guarantee given by the Ministry of Energy as unconstitutional and unenforceable since it was not approved by the Parliament of Ghana.

Despite the dismissal of the application the main case is take its normal course and one of the issues to be determined by the Supreme Court is whether a guarantee or undertaking given by the Government of Ghana without parliamentary approval is unconstitutional and accordingly enforceable.