The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Dame, has indicated that the GH¢10 trillion President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced as the judgment debt amount his government has saved the country, is wrong.
Godfred Dame took the blame for President Akufo-Addo’s misrepresentation of the figures on the amount of judgment debts saved by his government.
He indicated that he deliberately gave undervalued figures of the judgment debts saved so that it would not cause needless surprise or shock to the public.
The attorney general added that the actual judgment debt money the Akufo-Addo government has saved Ghana is GH¢14 trillion.
“The savings that the president announced were an underestimation. The president grossly underestimated. It indeed was my office (sic), because every minister has the responsibility of bringing to the president’s attention the work that the minister has done.
“And in presenting my report, I deliberately understated the account, just not to raise unnecessary eyebrows… But if you go through, 10 trillion is just arising in a single case. If you go through, the savings are over 14 trillion,” he said.
What Akufo-Addo said:
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament, on Tuesday, February 29, 2024, praised Godfred Dame for ensuring the state is not saddled with the payment of unnecessary bad debts.
The president said that due to the attorney general’s work, his government had saved Ghana trillions of Ghana cedis that, hitherto, would have gone into the payment of judgment debts.
“The Attorney General has continued in a very effective manner the tradition under this administration of contesting every single litigation against the state and has avoided the numerous judgment debts that used to be given against the State.
“The office of the Attorney General has saved the country over GH¢10 trillion,” he said on the floor of parliament.