The Minority MPs say most of these debts were actually incurred during the Rawlings administration before 2001.
Addressing a news conference in Parliament House on Thursday, former Attorney General, Joe Ghartey, provided a list of some of the compensation packages that have been paid since the beginning of this year.
Mr Gyartey’s comment is in support of another he made days ago in reaction to a suggestion from a Majority MP that the Mills government has had to tackle huge debts left behind by the Kufuor administration.
Presenting the budget document for 2010 to Parliament last month, Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor said “one of the burdens that this government has had to carry is a huge judgement debt. How did this judgement debt come about? It is the result of the failure of the NPP Government to honour contractual obligations and the flagrant disregard to pay even when judgements had been given by both local and foreign courts and arbitration panels.â€Â
“In the circumstance, at the end of September this year, the judgement debt outstanding was about GH¢560.0 million, which converts to over US$380.0 million,†he told legislators.
The former Attorney-General however argues most of the judgement debts could have been avoided if the Rawlings administration had followed good governance principles.
He said most of the debt could be traced to as far back as the First Republic, headed by Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
“Indeed to put the failure to pay for compensation for those who lost land during the construction of the Akosombo Dam at the doorstep of the NPP is laughable, to say the least,†he said.
“And it is a historical fact that the atrocities committed during the PNDC/NDC far outstrip anything that has ever happened in this country. The NPP government, through its good governance policy paid reparation to the people of Ghana avoiding what would have otherwise been a financial tsunami,†he added.
By Joynews