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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described as a �bad joke� the appointment of a Sole Commissioner by the President to oversee matters relating to judgment debts. The Sole Commissioner�s duty, according to a statement from the President�s Office will be to thoroughly examine the judgment debts and negotiated settlements puzzle and recommend for immediate implementation, legislative and systems remediation. The appointment of the Sole Commissioner is one of the policy actions promised by President John Mahama when he assumed office. The NPP, which has been advocating for people implicated in the various judgment debt cases to be investigated has told Citi News, this is only another attempt to buy time to the election. The NPP chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey stated that �this is a bad joke. All it is meant to do is to provide some sort of pretence that the matter is being looked into - to buy time to the election so they can say we are doing something about it, we have appointed a Sole Commissioner to look into the matter.� According to Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, �this is a criminal thing that has happened so they should do criminal investigations. Polarized as our politics have become, one side is trying to say that I have appointed a Sole Commissioner who is seen by everybody as somebody who really looks out for the interest of the totality of the citizenry and not the implied interest of the person who appointed him.� He described the office of the Sole Commissioner as lacking credibility saying, �this is not the way to deal with a matter you are directly implicated in. He was then the Vice President, head of the Economic Management team of the country, in charge of all the expenditure of the country. He is directly implicated in how the country�s money was spent.� Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament which has over the past months been investigating judgment debt cases has said it can only wait to see the outcome of the Sole Commissioner�s activities. The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Kwaku Agyeman Manu mentioned that �we believe it will be good. We believe a lot more things will come out. Not until the late President Mills commissioned EOCO to do some investigations into the Woyome thing, little did any Ghanaian know that he gave instructions on two occasions that they should not pay money and they paid so let us see what will come out of this Commission.� He however opined that there are existing State agencies which could have undertaken the task. �We have the state agencies that could have done this investigation the President think should be done, but if he opted to choose one person to spend State money on, I don�t think I can stop him because he has the right to do so,� said Mr. Agyeman Manu. In a related development, the Danquah Institute has said this move by the President is just a �PR gimmick� adding that the independence of the Sole Commissioner is questionable.