The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem, has advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the general public to be optimistic about the appointment of a Sole Commissioner on judgment debts as his duties are in the best interest of Ghanaians.
According to him, the Sole Commissioner is likely to begin full operations from next year therefore his appointment should not be misinterpreted to mean the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is seeking to buy time before the December polls.
President John Dramani Mahama on Monday swore in Justice Yaw Appau, as the Sole Commissioner on judgment debts. He has therefore been mandated to formalize the procedures involving business transactions in which the government is a party.
But the main opposition party has described the move as a bad joke meant to provide some sort of pretense that the matters of judgment debts are being looked into and also to buy time to the election.
Speaking on the Citi Eyewitness News, Mr. Azeem stated that �when he [President Mahama] made the promise, I don�t think the NPP saw anything wrong with it and I am not sure that they are actually going to take off before the elections. They will need time to prepare and all that and so the actual work will all come when there is a change of government.�
�The change of government could be NDC, NPP or even CPP; nobody knows so at least the fact that the step has been taken, I think it�s a good step in the right direction and we should give them the benefit of the doubt to see what happens,� he added.
He opined that Justice Appau�s duties are not to look at cases that are already pending before court but �to examine the whole judgment debt issue as a technical person; as an Appeal Court Judge and advice government on what to do to prevent further judgment debts or to at least reduce them in the future.�
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