The nominee, immediate-past Governor of the Central bank, the Bank of Ghana, was answering questions relating to his office when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday.
Mr Amissah-Arthur was nominated for the position last Tuesday from a list of key contenders by President Dramani John Mahama, who ascended to the presidency following the untimely death of President John Atta Mills on July 24, 2012.
The NPP Member of Parliament for Akyem Abuakwa South, Hon. Atta Akyea, had sought to find out from the nominee, as keeper of the national purse, whether there was any order never to pay the Woyome money as it has turned out that though the late President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills instructed that the payment should not be done, nevertheless some people at some state agencies defied him and paid the money.
In response, Mr. Amissah stressed that the BoG does not have the power to say no when government has money in its coffers. According to him, the only thing that can be done is to draw government’s attention to or offer financial advice especially in situations where a specific budget is being overdrawn.
“The Bank of Ghana did not receive any instruction from the presidency not to pay the money but I must explain that we hold government accounts; if the account is in credit and the people who carry the mandate to carry that account provide a legitimate instrument, we always honor that instrument so if there is money in the account and they say pay Mr. A, we are not going to ask if Mr. A is providing a service or not. Once the Accountant General who operates the account says pay, we are under instruction to pay. If we find out that there is no money there or the activity is clearly outside the budget then we can draw attention to the fact that something is wrong and that they should look at it again but we cannot refuse to pay a legitimate instruction if there is credit on the account…” Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur said.
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