As though the payment of judgement debts was not enough in the previous administrations, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has paid a further GH¢280 million as judgment debt since it took office in 2017.
Thus in total, the NPP government in two and half years of being in office has paid a whopping GH¢280 million in judgement debts.
This was made known by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Friday, July 12, 2019 when he appeared before Parliament.
He disclosed that the situation is a drain on the country’s economy and raised red flags over what he terms avoidable costs against the state in judgement debts.
Ken Ofori-Atta answering questions posed to him said the country’s judgment debt stood at over GH¢679 million.
He stated that the government is pursuing measures aimed at reducing judgment debts.
“It’s a deplorable development in our country and can disrupt our budget,” he said.
“The government’s approach is to renegotiate most of these judgment debts and ensure we make as much savings as much as possible… and in one case we were able to save the tax payer some GH¢90 million,” he added.
Huge expenditure on judgement debts in cases involving the failure of government officials to honour financial obligations, wrongful dismissal of government employees, reckless driving by public officers and molestations by security officers etc are examples of cases which can be attributed to judgement debts incurred in the country.
