Dean of the faculty of Arts and Science at the Ashesi University, Prof Stephen Adei has said Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta did not engage in a corrupt act when he issued a $2.25 billion bond earlier this year.
He said that after examining the entire bond issue process, he found it strange that the Finance Minister was accused of corruption.
Speaking on Joy Fm’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Prof Adei who is also a former Rector at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), said “There was nothing corrupt about the $2.2 billion bond.”
He explained that “the country had accumulated so much short-term debt that within a short period, if resources were not found to lengthen the period, Ghana would have been declared bankrupt.”
The bond which was issued in April caused a stir in the country. The Minority contended the issuance of the bond and accused the Finance Minister of conflict of interest.
According to the Minority, Mr Ofori-Atta had “cooked” the $2.25 billion bond for his friend and business partner Trevor Trefgarne who is director of Franklin Templeton, the company which bought 95 percent of the bond. Trevor is also director of Enterprise Group Limited, a company the Finance Minister partly owns.
At a press conference held shortly after the bond was issued, former deputy finance minister and the Minority’s spokesperson on finance, Casiel Atto Forson said Trevor took advantage of the business connection he has with the Finance Minister in order to win a deal the vice president had described as the “deal of the year.”
According to him, the deal was shrouded in secrecy and sold off to Franklyn Templeton.
Mr Ofori-Atta was summoned to Parliament to provide detailed information on the bond issue.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) was tasked by the Minority to investigate the issue and are yet to make public their findings.
But Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Prof Addai said the claims by the Minority were preposterous.
He found it difficult to understand the Minority’s position on the issue questioned the Minority’s position on the matter, saying that “If a Minister of Finance who has a wide network of financial contact is able to get a quick long extended loan to replace it at even a lower rate…
“If corruption brings us that type of relief, then we need more of that type of corruption,” he added.
Government’s attitude towards corruption
In a whole, Prof Addai believes that the government’s approach to tackling corruption is slow, but maybe for a good reason.
He said President Akufo-Addo by his pedigree is careful about taking unorthodox means of tackling the menace hence his decision to put in place the right measures to deal with it.
“I think if I’m right that his approach is this ‘let us have an independent, fully legally backed person who, when he says you are corrupt, takes you to court, not by a commission.”
Prof Addai decried the manner in which corruption cases have been dealt with by previous governments. He said he is unimpressed with the previous government’s handling of corruption issues and people accused of engaging in corrupt acts.
Citing the occurrences at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he said “When you set up a commission and the results come it is only the president’s decision that ends it. That way of dealing with corruption is, to me, very bad.” He added that no matter how long it takes, it is in the interest of the country that people who are accused of corruption are made to go through the entire legal process.
“And I am hoping that the promise that by the end of this year, the Special Prosecutor will be in place, who then can decide to look into corruption issues, works.
“The channel they want to use, whether it will solve the problem or not, I cannot tell, but I would like to see a way in which at the end of the day, when somebody is corrupt, the president does not decide if they should be punished or not or transferred to the Jubilee House,” he added.
He believes that if the right systems are put in place in dealing with corruption, “it will be good for Ghana.”
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