A Fellow with the Centre for Social Justice, Dr. Theresa Mannah-Blankson says every judgment debt paid out by the State is an expenditure that could have been used for the development of the country.

She asserted that the State can ill-afford such payments when over 30% of the population are living in poverty.

She stressed that Ghana lags behind other lower-middle-income countries in several indicators, including health expenditure, under-5 mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, secondary school enrolment, and infrastructural development.

Dr. Blankson, who is also Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, was speaking at the launch of a report, put together by the Centre for Social Justice entitled; A 20-year Review of Judgment Debt Payments in Ghana: Impact, Causes & Remedies.

The report which analyzed judgment debts paid between 2000 – 2019, found that judgment debts paid as a result of contractual breaches amounted to GHC1,384.7m, those that resulted as a failure to promptly pay compensation for land acquisition by the state was GHC479.2m, whiles statutory breaches  by public officials stood at GHC29.9m. An estimated GHC411.6m of awarded judgment debts, remained unpaid as at 2017.

Dr. Blankson noted that judgment debts have accrued under every government and normally arise due to negligence, blatant disregard for public procurement laws, illegal abrogation of contracts and corrupt activities by public officials in their line of duty.

Other speakers at the event were, Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Chair of the CSJ Council and Theodore Albright Esq. CSJ Fellow for Governance, Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Proceedings were chaired by Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana.