Ghana has lost a colossal amount of over GH¢1.89 billion through payment of judgment debts by successive governments in the last 20 years.
In addition to this, a staggering amount of judgment debts awarded against the state are still outstanding per the Auditor-General’s reports from 2013 to 2019.
A report by the Policy Action Platform (PAP) of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) indicated that the gargantuan amount paid so far, which is equivalent to 135 percent of new multilateral loans contracted by government in 2019, was doled out from 2000 to 2019.
The total amount is also 112 percent of total central government grants received in 2019, and about 30 percent of total health expenditures in 2019.
According to the report, “Most judgement debts occur due to negligence, blatant disregard for public procurement laws, illegal abrogation of contracts, corrupt activities by public officials in their line of duty, all of which have resulted in the payment of huge sums from the public coffers”.
Giving a brief review of judgment debt payments from public funds from the period under review, the report revealed that the largest amount of judgement debt payments was made in 2010, amounting to GH¢356.6 million.
Of the total, judgment debt payments arising from contractual breaches was over GH¢1.38 billion (73 percent), GH¢479.2 million from failure to promptly pay compensation for compulsory land acquisition by the State/Government (25 percent), and GH¢29.9 million (about 1.5 percent) from tortuous/statutory breaches by public officials.
The CSJ report was launched during a virtual forum last Thursday, July 1, 2021 on the theme: “A 20-year review of judgement debt payments in Ghana: Impact, Causes and Remedies”.
Making reference to the Auditor-General’s reports from 2013 to 2019, the report noted that “staggering amounts of judgement debts awarded against the State remain outstanding.”
It pointed out that, “For example, in 2017 alone, the amount outstanding as shown in the Auditor-General’s report was GH¢411.6 million.”
The country has over the years grappled with payment of judgment debts, some of which are described as highly fraudulent.
Unending saga
The CSJ decried that six years after Justice Yaw Appau’s sole judgment debt commission’s report, the people of Ghana continue to bleed and suffocate from reckless stewardship of our national resources.
It regretted that the most recent award of a judgment debt of $170 million against the government of Ghana by the Arbitration Tribunal in the GPGC Ltd versus Government of Ghana case, is particularly emblematic of how lightly the problem continues to be viewed.
“Clearly, the phenomenon of judgment debts is entrenched only because of negligence, blatant disregard for public procurement laws, illegal abrogation of contracts, and corrupt activities by public officials in their line of duty.
“Judgement debts are thus a tedious combination of weak and corrupt political leadership and bureaucracy and wanton disregard for the scarce resources of the people of Ghana, resources that could have built countless hospitals, affordable housing and schools.
“Ironically, a country that continues to rely so heavily on donor funds appears able, ready and so willing to waste so much, thus raising questions of whether Ghana really needs aid.
“In the presence of funding gaps and within the context of the rising public debt and high interest costs of the country’s public debt, all of which limit our ability as a country to provide the much-needed amenities and support for the vulnerable in our society, donor assistance in the form of grants has been valuable to the Ghanaian economy.
“However, the extent of wasteful resources on judgment debt provides no moral justification for donor assistance”, the report concluded.
