It seems the contention surrounding the conflict of interest allegation levelled against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, is far from over.

Over the weekend, Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Kumah asked people who feel pained with the development regarding the ministers to “go to court”.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/go-to-court-john-kumah-to-persons-concerned-about-databank-ofori-atta-conflict-of-interest-allegations/

However, the Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show is not so pleased about that.

According to him, “The constitution does not only speak to the judiciary. The constitution speaks to every public officer, every citizen so we all have a role to enforce it.”

As such, he asked the Deputy Finance Minister to stop “pretending” as though the constitution is technical “because it is not”.

“Of course, we can go to the court to enforce it. But in this new culture of ‘go to court’, we should be very careful of what we are signalling.

“Sometimes it’s like saying, ‘you will go to court and we know how it will turn out.’ It is not very good for the judiciary. All political hot potatoes we kick to the judiciary for it to handle and then we believe that we have a pliant judiciary or we don’t.

“It is not the solution to the problem. We have a responsibility and we must enforce it,” he stressed on Tuesday.

While acknowledging the powers of the judiciary, Prof Prempeh argued that the laws are clearly spelt out, and thus, must be adhered to.

“We accept judicial review as part of constitutionalism. Courts have a role, they have the last word when there are disputes of this kind, But courts are better off avoiding [some of these]. So why do we want to destroy the last line of defence?

“So yes the court has a final say but it is not infallible, it does make mistakes,” he told co-hosts, Kojo Yankson and Winston Amoah.

Background

Discussion surrounding a conflict of interest in the positions of the Finance Minister and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry came to light after an ace Ghanaian broadcaster expressed his surprise at government for constantly employing the services of a company co-founded by the Finance Minister – Data Bank Financial Services – as advisors for some of Ghana’s international loan transactions.

Kwasi Kyei Darkwah (KKD) suggested that it may be the reason the country keeps borrowing, a habit he insisted cannot be allowed to continue.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/as-ghana-gets-poorer-ofori-attas-databank-gets-richer-kkd-fumes-at-companys-role-as-advisors-for-some-loan-transactions/

Speaking on GTV’s Breakfast Show on Wednesday, August 17, he lashed out at Parliament for keeping quiet about such an issue.

But in a rebuttal the Ministry of Finance has dismissed the claims which went viral on social media that Databank and Black Star Brokerage were handpicked by the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana to act as Bond Market Specialists for government bond issuance, hence benefiting from those transactions.

In a statement, the Ministry said, it is incorrect the claim that these two firms have been appointed as advisors to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

“The selection of the Primary Dealers [PDs] and Bond Market Specialists [BMSs] is an automatic process based on market performance and historical secondary market trading activity which is publicly available and cannot be manipulated by the Ministry of Finance [MoF] or the Bank of Ghana [BoG]”.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/databank-black-star-brokerage-not-advisors-to-government-finance-ministry-dismisses-social-media-report/

“Since 1996, the Ministry of Finance with the Bank of Ghana has developed and implemented various policies which affect the issuance and trading of Government of Ghana debt securities (Treasuries and Bonds). The ultimate objectives of these policies are to develop an efficient fixed income market, strengthen the capacity of local institutions and deepen financial intermediation”, it added.

Furthermore, it pointed out that Databank and Black Star Brokerage are two out of nine firms that have been selected by BoG/MoF as Bond Market Specialists and not Advisors to MoF.

The Ministry added that “the other firms selected to be BMSs are – Ecobank, Stanbic Bank, ABSA, Cal Bank, GCB Bank, Fidelity Bank, and IC Securities. As stated above, the selection of the firms was solely based on their historical performance on the Bond Market and no other consideration”.

Meanwhile, the Databank has had cause to, over the past year, distance itself from accusations of conflict of interest in government transactions.

In June 2021, the company reiterated that Ken Ofori-Atta resigned as Executive Chair of the bank in August 2012 and “resigned from all the Databank Boards in February 2014.”

"So you go to court and the ‘court says there is no conflict’, and then there is a celebration so this thing festers every bond specialist can be a minister.