Betty To Face PAC On Thursday

A Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu will be appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament this Thursday in the matter of the €94 million paid to Construction Pioneers (CP) as judgement debt by the state.

Many are wondering whether on display once again, and on GTV, will be the bias and insolence of some of the members of the PAC, especially the Chairman, Kan-Dapaah as well as Hon. Agyeman Manu and Hon Isaac Asiama, all NPP MPs.

The appearance of current Attorney-General, Dr. Ben Kumbuor, a few weeks ago saw on full display insolence and bias from these three MPs as they sought to embarrass the Attorney-General. But Kumbuor will not kowtow to their insolence, whims and caprices, standing his grounds and virtually turning the whole session into a teacher and a pupil teaching session as he lectured them on judgement debt.

Invariably, the Attorney-General ended up exposing the ignorance of the “ three musketeers” who simply refused to swallow their pride and learn from the Attorney- General.

When Mr Philip Addison appeared before the same PAC a few days ago, they did not show even a quarter of their insolence; they sat still as he tore through their questions, refusing to answer some questions.

The bias of Kan Dapaah was on full glow and this is understandable because Mr. Addison was the lawyer who defended those accused of murdering Ya Na Andani Yakubu II.

The Chairman of the PAC looked on sheepishly as Mr. Addison bluntly refused to answer some questions. At one stage, he even seemed to be literally going down on his knees to plead with him to answer the questions. At another stage, it was as if he was the solicitor for Mr. Addison.

Not many Ghanaians have been surprised by the bias of some members of the PAC. It has become obvious to many that the Chairman, Kan- Dapaah and some NPP members of the Committee have been using the PAC's sittings to score cheap political points.

Hon. Isaac Asiama in particular prides himself as being one of the most insolent MPs Ghana has ever seen though he always ultimately only ends up exposing his ignorance on matters. His English often leaves many laughing until their sides hurt but he seems not to notice this.

The CP judgement debt saga has come about as a result of the refusal of the NPP, after coming to power in 2001, to pay CP for roads it has constructed. Not even the advice of one of the Attorney-Generals under that regime, Joe Ghartey, that CP be paid was adhered to.

In arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Ghana lost and was ordered to pay €153 million to CP. However, the NPP government stubbornly refused to pay, creating a situation where interest of €8,000 a day accumulated on the principal.

By the time the NDC came to office in 2009, the debt had reached €653 million. CP secured another order from the ICC to attach the properties of the Government of Ghana, (GOG), which meant CP could sell Ghana's properties anywhere in the world to defray the debt.

The construction comapny immediately moved to attach Ghana's UN Accounts and properties belonging to the Ghana Cocoa Processing in London but Attorney Genera;, Betty Mould Iddrisu moved in to prevent Ghana's properties from being sold.

In a settlement with CP, she managed to reduce Ghana's debt to €94 million which the state immediately began to defray. But in a funny twist, the NPP, which caused the debt and caused it to sky-rocket to €653 million has been questioning why the government is paying off the debt.

As usual, the NPP managed to hoodwink Ghanaians to start attacking Betty instead of congratulating her for being able to negotiated Ghana's indebtedness to CP downwards. The NDC, as docile as ever, rather than rallying around Betty to expose the NPP instead decided to leave her in the lurch to battle it all alone. By this singular act of betrayal, the NDC surrendered the moral high ground to the NPP who, desperate for political points, have managed to convince the undiscerning that it is the NDC that is guilty in this matter.

Betty and his lawyer, Nana Ato Dazdie, have so far managed to go it all alone, battling the NPP, and proving that if somebody needs to be charged for causing financial loss in this matter, it is elements in the NPP.