A petition filed by the NDC’s Brogya Genfi at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for investigations to be conducted into the GH$2.25 billion bond issued by the Bank of Ghana is a step in the right direction because it will bring finality on the matter, John Boadu, Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said.
According to him, Mr Ken Ofori Atta, Minister of Finance, against whom the petition has been filed, will be exonerated at the end of the investigations because there was no wrongdoing in the entire transaction.
Mr Genfi’s petition follows assertions by the Minority in Parliament that Mr Trevor G. Trefgarne, a director at Franklin Templeton, the institution that bought 95 per cent of the bond, is also a Director at Enterprise Group Limited, a company of which Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is co-founder, thus, raising issues of transparency, conflict of interest, and suspicion.
Following the allegations, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said Minority MPs were displaying ignorance about economic issues and asked them to do a little reading to cure their ignorance.
“So they need to understand, maybe they should read a little, but they need to understand what took place: we issued a cedi bond, there’s no secrecy to the matter, it was very well invested in. The holders have invested many times in Ghana in bonds that were in place when Seth Terkper issued them, they bought them, 24 per cent interest rate. This time it is 19%, we are doing even much better, but this is what politics has been reduced to, trying to say things which really have no basis and are basically wrapped in ignorance, and, so, I’m a bit sad for Ghana and for them because they are really demonstrating a lot of ignorance in the process of managing this economy,” Dr Bawumia said.
His comments angered the Minority who demanded an apology. Following the back-and-forth, Mr Gyamfi petitioned CHRAJ saying: “A number of issues of conflict of interest and lack of transparency have emerged from the bond issuance. It is imperative that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) investigates same to protect the national interest as per its mandate under article 218 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
Speaking on the development on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on Friday April 28, Mr Boadu said: “There are laws in Ghana and all of us, irrespective of your status, live within those laws. The institution and the courts are there for everybody to seek redress.
“Regarding the petition over the bond issue, for me it is a good move because at the end of the day the report will further explain how the transaction went about and that will settle the matter. The report will clarify all the issues. Today, as we speak, it is the NDC’s word against that of the NPP and so CHRAJ will definitely bring finality to the matter.
“It is good that we seek finality to the matter and CHRAJ will do that for us to move forward.”
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