The journey to unravel the stories behind debts incurred by the state through court imposed fines seems to be far from over for the Judgement Debt Commission of Ghana. Government institutions are now being hit with huge fines for wrongfully terminating the appointment of employees. Between 2009 and 2011, Ghana has paid a total of about GH¢624 million in judgement debts and this figure keeps rising with new cases being registered against it.

Part eight of ACT 651 (sections 62 and 63) spells out clearly the conditions that govern the termination of an employee’s contract yet, hasty decisions by some employers have propelled disgruntled employees to drag them to the court of law hence, huge fines being imposed on them when their actions fall short of the constitution’s provisions.

The state-owned Agricultural Development Bank suffered this after it was dragged to court for dismissing its former Managing Director, Mr. Yaw Opoku Atuahene on the 23^rd of July, 2009. The bank was ordered by an Accra-based Fast Track Court to pay its former MDan amount of GH¢ 400,000 as entitlement for being wrongfully dismissed by the bank.

The Inspector-General of Police was ordered by the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court to reinstate two policemen, who were dismissed from the service on April 30, 2008. The court, presided over by Mr. Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah, also ordered that, the two policemen should be paid all salary arrears due them since May 1, 2008, with interest, in accordance with the prevailing rate of the Bank of Ghana.

Another judgement debt case that grabbed a lot of media attention involved the unsettlement of a fine slapped at the Inspector General of Police and the Ghana Police Service by an Accra Fast Track High Court. The debt arose as a result of the wrongful dismissal of 17 officers.

With the aim of making huge profits by the end of each year, would institutions be able to reach their targets when they take decisions that only leave them incurring such huge debts?