An Accra based Policy Think-Tank, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has paid a courtesy call on the recently appointed Special Prosecutor of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng at his South Ridge office in Accra.
The CSJ team was made up of the Council Chair Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey and Council Member George Ferguson Laing.
The Team presented a copy of a recent study conducted by the Centre to the Special Prosecutor, entitled “A 20-Year Review of Judgment Debt Payments in Ghana: Impact, Causes and Remedies”.
According to Dr. Sodzi-Tettey, the study catalogues 20 years of wasteful stewardship of Ghana’s resources on mind blowing judgment debts. He said, the report outlines selected case studies for deeper analysis of legal breaches, financial impact and proffers strong recommendations for stemming the hemorrhage.
Mr. George Ferguson Laing expressed the hope that the CSJ could work with the Office of the Special Prosecutor to address the issue.
Mr. Kissi Agyebeng thanked the CSJ for the report and assured them that the issue of the judgment debts is one that his office intends to tackle with all the seriousness it deserves.
He said his office is keen to work with CSOs and the general public to identify and tackle issues related to corruption. He said significant attention is also being paid to preventative measures and resources are being deployed towards public education.
The Special Prosecutor
He briefed the CSJ team on steps being taken to operationalize the office, including urgent staffing requirements and the furnishing and equipping of the new 10-story office complex. He said that it is critical that his office puts in place systems that would enable it to effectively execute its mandate.
The Policy Action Platform (PAP) of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is the Centre’s mechanism for deep engagement with leaders, policy analysts and decision makers on intractable problems that plague the Ghanaian society. It aims to achieve fundamental policy shifts rooted in thorough analysis, reflection and practical recommendations to ultimately impact the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.
In the Report presented to the Special Prosecutor, the CSJ noted that “Ghana as a country, however, lags behind in several other indicators, including health expenditures, under-5 mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, secondary school enrollment, and gender parity index for secondary school enrollment when compared with the lower-middle-income group averages. As a result, the country cannot afford to waste its limited public resources on judgment debts when faced with enormous development challenges.”
To halt the practice, the CSJ requested for accountability in the stewardship of national resources, calling on the Special Prosecutor and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate all instances of judgment debts in the Fourth Republic (effective 1992) and roundly prosecute all offending political leaders and public officials. Further the CSJ called for a drastic overall of the Attorney General’s office and governance mechanisms to address the contracting and abrogation processes that ultimately lead to the payment of judgment debts.
