The Minority in Parliament on Thursday stated that 90 percent of Ghana's judgement debts were attributable to the Provisional National Defence Committee (PNDC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) governments.
"This is because the PNDC/NDC governments failed to pay compensations to workers of over 300 Companies that were placed on divestiture for 18 years, only for them to turn round to blame all their misdeeds on the eight years of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration"
These were contained in a statement signed and presented by Mr. Joe Ghartey, NPP Member of Parliament for Esikadu/Ketan on behalf of the
Minority on the constitutional, legal and governance issues arising in the country.
The statement said in his presentation of the 2010 fiscal year budget statement in Parliament, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and
Economic Planning made certain remarks which it described as 'misleading and misinformation of the Public'.
It quoted the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning as saying "There has been a growing concern for the number of court judgements against government. This resulted in the payment of judgement debts amounting to GHC49.2 Million against a budget provision of GHC 30Million...The quantum of these court judgement debts increased substantially over the eight years due to bad governance".
The statement questioned why the NDC government had to sign contracts between City and Country Waste Limited and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly when the contracts did not go through the normal procedures of bidding and subsequent awarding of to the highest and better bidder.
The Minority claimed that the ruling was out to create mischief when it attributed the non-payments of compensation for lands acquired for the construction of the Akosombo Dam, which occurred during the reign of the first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
"Indeed to put the failure to pay for compensation for those who lost their land during the construction of the Akosombo Dam at the doorsteps of NPP is laughable to say the least and we wish to remind the government that they should without any hesitation pay compensation for the Bui Dam".
The statement argued that the NPP government did not embark on "systematic confiscation and destruction of private property without
recourse to the law. Indeed the public hearings of the National Reconciliation Commission laid bare the sufferings of the Ghanaian due to
the atrocities committed under PNDC/NDC regimes"
The Minority said the people of Ghana wanted results and not excuses and they would continue to offer constructive criticisms by setting the records right for the people of Ghana to see the difference between the two regimes.