Last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court against Waterville Holding Limited in the 25 million euros judgment debt case has prompted Parliament to set up a committee to review the procedure for international transactions.The court ruled that payments made to Waterville for contract with the state required parliamentary approval, a process it said was side-stepped.The committee made up of First and Second Deputy Speakers, Majority and Minority Leaders and former leadership of the House have one month to make recommendation to Parliament.Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho says resources have been made available for a speedy work.He described the task before the committee as technical and cited three Supreme Court rulings on Article 185 (5) bothering on international transactions to guide the committee’s work.“These are judgements the committee is supposed to go and study very, very well before engaging the people involved”.A member of the Legal and Constitution Committee of Parliament, William Ofori Boafo, explaining the mandate of the committee to Joy News' Elton John Brobbey, said it will also determine the sanctions for breakers.“The constitutional provisions did not provide any sanctions. So what is the sanction against the transaction itself and again what are the sanctions for persons who get involved in ignoring parliamentary approval and proceedings to commit the country?”He also admitted that as the law stands, Parliament is “not clear what should come [to them] for approval”, but was hopeful the committee will “determine the areas that we should cover for parliamentary scrutiny”.Minority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also admitted that the House has failed to establish clear guidelines on which international contract require parliamentary approval.
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