The group is also asking the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations which has carried out investigations into the operations of the NYEP and GYEEDA to make their findings public.
[contextly_sidebar id=”YR5e47an8pacFA1GNTN9LPAzndDKV15p”]The Ministry and the Auditor General commissioned investigations into the operations and transactions of two companies implicated in a financial malfeasance, but the report on the investigation has not been made public.
A letter issued by the group and copied to the Attorney General, Parliament, the Chief Justice among others asked the Ministry to provide information on its findings.
“Kindly provide the information and documentation requested herein within 14 days of the date of this letter, failing which we shall have no other option but to commence legal proceedings against the republic, represented by the Attorney-General, in the enforcement of our Constitutional right to information.”
The group explained that their request is a first step to ensuring that public funds used by the two companies in transacting their businesses are fully repaid and recovered in a manner that is fair and equitable to Ghana.
We won’t wait for Parliament – Ace Ankomah
Speaking on Eyewitness News, a leading member of the group, Ace Ankomah justified their demands saying “we have the power to compel monies that have been spent wrongfully to be restored to the state.”
The legal practitioner stressed that it will not be advisable to wait for Parliament to take a legal action against the two companies since their previous attempts at administering justice in similar cases have been unsuccessful.
“We will not wait for Parliament because we have had a Parliament since 1993 and as far as I am concerned this cycle has been impotent and yielded nothing. Occupy Ghana is not going sit and triddle…,” he warned.
“We have been in this constitutional democracy for more than two decades. Have you seen anything good come out of what Parliament does? Can anything good come out from it… We have seen an impotent cycle of Auditor General’s report and Parliamentary sittings where people actually go and sit there and give information to the Public Accounts Committee and nothing happens,” he added.
Drawing from Article 21 (f) of the constitution to support their request, the group asked that:
- A copy of the report of the investigation or inquiry commissioned into these matters, among others,
- Copies of all Memoranda of Understanding or other written agreements, if any, entered into with the above mentioned entities,
- Details (including amounts and dates) of all public funds paid to the above entities,
- Details of any parliamentary approvals obtained above, specifically for the CST funds given directly to NYEP/GYEEDA, the budget overrun by GYEEDA, and the “loans” listed above, and
- Details (including amounts and dates) of all payments made by the above entities to date.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana