Sole Commissioner at the Judgement Debt Commission, Justice Yaw Appau has bemoaned the rate at which people receive judgment debt they are not entitled to.
He said as a result of a leaked state basket, many people have managed to receive compensation as judgment debt; a situation he described as gradually draining the state coffers.
Mr. Appau said this on Wednesday when Professor Reynolds Okai, Rector of the Koforidua Polytechnic appeared before the Commission, over the payment of compensation regarding the acquisition of land for the Polytechnic.
According Prof Okai, the 78-acre land in question was acquired by government through the Regional Coordinating Council in 2001.
He said the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission later wrote to the Institution saying that five claimants were to be paid compensation over the land, because they owned 28.049 acres of the total land.
According to him, two of the claimants have received their share of the compensation in the sum of GHC 293,000, while that of the rest are being processed for payment.
Prof Okai told the Commission that there is no compensation regarding the remaining 50.361 acres of land, as it belonged to the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, while the other 28.049 belonged to the Akuapem North District, hence the payment of the compensation.
Mr. Appau urged the Polytechnic Rector to ensure that right documentations are gathered with regards to the 50.361 acres of land on which compensation is not supposed to be paid, to prevent any future payment of judgment debt.
He revealed that during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, , many chiefs gave out lands for free to enable government to provide development projects, but many years after those projects had been completed, some people managed to go to court to get compensation over such lands.
Prof Okai told the Commission that the Polytechnic has got all necessary documents with regards to the 50.361 acres of land to prevent any future litigation.
Mr Bentsi Enchil, Chief Land Valuer at the Lands Commission, Mr Patrick Aaron Yeboah of Property Lane Limited and Madam Comfort Aboagye were to appear before the Commission over the land in question, but failed to turn up and would now appear on Monday, April 28.
Source: GNA