Lawyer Files Injunction On Government’s T-bills Borrowings

Private legal practitioner, Jonathan Amable has filed an injunction application at the Supreme Court seeking an immediate halt to government’s borrowing on the treasury bills market.

The plaintiff is demanding that the government and all its agents be stopped from issuing treasury bills to finance government business due to the failure of the government to seek parliamentary approval for such an issuance.

Jonathan Amable argues that the action by the government is contrary to provisions in the 1992 constitution. He further avers that the development if not prohibited will continue to have a dire effect on the economy.

The defendant in the case is the Attorney General of the Republic of Ghana. The injunction application is also asking the Supreme Court to cite the action by the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana as unconstitutional.

“That the consequence of the relevant borrowing contracts being conducted without the requisite parliamentary approval makes them liable to be declared void for unconstitutionality and such a consequence will be made more dire by the fact that the holders of the offending debt instruments include banks, savings and loans companies micro-finance companies, asset management companies, insurance companies, pension funds and ordinary Ghanaians.

“Accordingly, the unconstitutional conduct of the state potentially jeopardises the entire Ghanaian financial sector and hard-earned capital of the investing public”, the application read in part.

The writ specifically highlights violations of Section 30 of the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612), and Section 61 of the Public Financial Management Act.

These provisions establish a statutory framework requiring parliamentary oversight for the State to borrow funds through temporary advances, loans from the Bank of Ghana, and the issuance of treasury bills, bonds and other debt instruments.

However, the applicant’s request focuses solely on halting new borrowing transactions and does not seek to impede the State from fulfilling its obligations under existing borrowing contracts.

This is contingent on the condition that the funds used for such repayments are not sourced from new borrowing transactions that fail to meet the requirement for parliamentary approval of their terms.

Source: CNR