Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will push for the arrest and prosecution of officials of the Akufo-Addo administration including the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr. Ernest Addison when they leave office.
This is because the said officials have breached the laws of the country for spearheading the decision of the BoG to write off about GH¢32 billion debt government owed the central bank without seeking approval from Parliament, he argued.
According to the Acting Ranking Member of Parliament Finance Committee, the Finance minister and the BoG are mandated by the Public Financial Management Act to seek parliamentary approval in writing off debt or remitting claims.
He added that the central bank’s Act also mandates it not to lend to government beyond 5 percent of its previous year’s revenue.
However, not only did the BoG exceed the threshold in lending to government but it also fail to seek Parliament’s consent in writing off the debt government owed it, he claimed.
“In the regulation governing this Act, there is no threshold which means that any such write off must come to Parliament. So the so-called write off of GH¢32 billion is an imagination. The law under 97, provides for surcharge. Is there an opinion of the chief legal officer of government on this matter? You can’t just go away and write off 32 billion cedis,” he fumed.
Notwithstanding what he is certain is a clear breach of the country’s laws, Isaac Adongo said pushing for the prosecution of the perpetrators while they are still in office will be an exercise in futility.
He and his party are, therefore, waiting patiently for them to exit power so that they will press for their arrest and prosecution.
“At this moment in time, we know what will happen if you go to court. So when everybody is left alone, the president is sitting somewhere, the A-G is sitting somewhere, Ken Ofori-Atta is sitting somewhere and Addison is sitting somewhere, we can now isolate and arrest. At this point, they are together fighting you. So we are very careful to choose our battles”.
Meanwhile, he wants the position of the Attorney-General on the matter made public as he indicated the A-G will be considered an accomplice of the “illegality” if he did not advise against the cancellation of the debt.
The Bank of Ghana, in its Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2022, posted losses amounting to GH¢60.8 billion.
The losses, the BoG indicated, were occasioned by the Domestic Debt Restructuring Programme and the general economic difficulties which led to the impairment of the Government of Ghana securities holdings, impairment of loans and advances granted to quasi-government and financial institutions and depreciation of the local currency.
But the Minority in Parliament said the decision of the central bank to cancel government debt without recourse to due processes contributed to the losses. They, thus, demand a reinstatement of the debt.
