Commission on Judgement Debt: Witnesses plead for more time
The usual plea for more time to access documents by
representatives of institutions who appear before the Commission on Judgement
Debt (CJD) characterised its sitting Wednesday.
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The Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), Mr Enoch Hemans Cobbinah and the Head of Public Debt and Investment at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), Mr Richmond Osei Saben-Fosu, all pleaded for more time to retrieve documents relating to the payment of judgement debt since 1992 which they claimed was in the possession of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) and which had become difficult to trace.
Since the CJD begun sitting on November 23, last year, officials of various government ministries, departments and agencies have pleaded for more time to retrieve documents.
In certain instances, they assured the commission that if given a certain number of weeks they would be able to lay hands on the documents only to come back to plead for more time.
The situation has cast doubt on the ability of the CJD to perform the task for which it was established.
Realising that the public might lose confidence in the CJD’s ability to perform its mandate, the Sole Commissioner, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, today urged Ghanaians not to “misconstrue” the happenings as refusal on the part of some MMDAs to co-operate with the commission.
He said the commission had the mandate to investigate the payment of judgment debts since 1992 when the country was preparing to re-introduce civilian rule.
According to him, he was aware that some of the documents pertaining to the payment of judgment debts were in the possession of the PRAAD and that retrieving them was posing a challenge to state officials.
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“What is happening does not mean they are not co-operating. Everybody is co-operating and with time we will overcome all these problems,” he said.
Barely 24 hours earlier, had he reminded the public that the CJD was currently in the process of data collection and that it would soon start dealing with “specifics.”
He urged the public to “bear with us,” adding that “this is just the beginning.”
Earlier at today’s sitting, Mr Cobbinah said by February 13, this year, the MOFEP would retrieve all the documents from PRAAD.
He was, however, quick to add that if by then officials of the ministry failed to lay hands on the official papers, emissaries would be sent to the CJD to plead for more time.
Mr Saben-Fosu said retrieving documents from the PRAAD had not been “an easy task.”
He claimed that as of the time he was before the CJD, officials of the CAGD were at the PRAAD working to retrieve the documents.
According to him, by February 13, the damiettas would have been retrieved.
Story by Mark-Anthony Vinorkor