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The Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, has observed that 99 per cent of all cases of judgement debt against the state were due to the failure of the Attorney-General�s (A-G�s) Department to defend the cases. He was expressing his frustration at the numerous cases before the commission in which the parties that sued the A-G had secured default judgement. At Wednesday�s sitting, for instance, a representative of the Adjumanku Dawurampong Clan in Accra, Mr Abekah Hafzet, told the commission that the clan had secured a default judgement of five billion (Ghc500,000) compensation in 2004. Moved by that submission, Mr Justice Apau said, �99 per cent of all the cases of judgement debt payment were not defended at all.� He explained that default judgement was a judgement until it was set aside. Mr Justice Apau has always maintained that the A-G could have saved the state from incurring huge judgement debts if the A-G�s Department had defended the cases. The Adjumanku Dawurampong Clan has petitioned the commission in respect of 1,715 acres of land at Dansoman in Accra that the government acquired in 1968 through an Executive Instrument for the Dansoman Estates Scheme. Mr Hafzet told the commission that the government failed to pay any compensation to the clan. Therefore, he said, the family pursued the case in court in 2004 and secured a default judgement the same year for the payment of �5 billion compensation. He said after the judgement, the A-G indicated that it wanted to file a motion to stay the execution of the judgement. He said the A-G failed to file the motion for stay of execution of the judgement on five occasions. Consequently, Mr Hafzet said, the Ministry of Finance proceeded to make the initial payment of Ghc100,000 to the clan around 2009. He said the government had since not effected any additional payment to the family, hence the decision to petition the commission. The Chief of Mpoasei, Nii Adote Din Barima, also appeared before the commission in respect of the land for the Dansoman Estates Scheme and indicated that the 1,715 acres for the scheme belonged to different families. Therefore, the Adjumanku Dawurampong Clan did not have sole ownership of the land. Therefore, he said, it was wrong for the Adjumanku Dawurampong Clan to have proceeded to court to claim compensation for the whole land. Okyeame Dwonor, one of the people listed for receiving compensation for the submerging of their lands following the construction of the Volta Dam in 1965, was stunned when he learnt from the commission yesterday that the government released �1.3 billion (old currency) to him for the submerging of his family land at Apaaso in 2009. Records from the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission indicated that the Chief of Apaaso, Nana Otieku Amoani Asare, took the money on Okyeame Dwonor�s behalf. However, Okyeame Dwonor told the commission that Nana Asare had given him only �20 million (old currency) from that amount, with the explanation that the government would release a bigger amount later.