Contract Act amendment to prohibit compound interests payable by state-AG
According to him, The Contracts (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act 1114), which was sponsored by his outfit, was informed by observations made by him in the several instances
The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has disclosed that the latest amendment to the Contract Act would prohibit compound interests payable by the state in contracts entered into by public officers.
According to him, The Contracts (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act 1114), which was sponsored by his outfit, was informed by observations made by him in the several instances in which he had defended the state in judgment debt cases.
The bill, which was assented to by the president of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo on March 8, will generally eliminate the tendency where public officers enter into high compound interest contracts, thus saving the state money.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr. Dame further hinted at another bill, the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) (Amendment) Bill, that has also been laid before parliament and is currently being considered by the committee concerned.
The new bill, when passed, basically seeks to reform the jury system by changing the composition, reducing exemptions, and modernizing Ghana’s criminal justice system.
Additionally, the bill proposes other changes, like the scrapping of the trial by indictment and restricting it to offenses punishable by death, and providing for trial by absentia and a speedy trial by introducing day-to-day trial for all criminal cases as far as practicable.
The Attorney General has thus appealed to all and sundry to throw their weight behind this bill for its speedy passage by parliament.
