Case for halt of T-bills is adjourned
Story By: Olive Gibbon
The Supreme Court has further delayed the case made for the government to stop issuing Treasury bills until Parliament controls them fully, ruling the case ‘adjourned indefinitely’.
Treasury bills are currently issued by the Bank of Ghana on behalf of the government to borrow money from citizens, putting the state in domestic debt, allowing citizens to invest. Private legal practitioner Mr. Jonathan Amable has demanded that the issuing of these Treasury bills are stopped until Parliament oversees them.
This decision by the Supreme Court on Tuesday 25th February postpones this ongoing affair, a year after Mr. Amable’s original writ. The Attorney-General’s Department told the court it will need more time to file a response to the issue.
In February 2024, Jonathan Amable filed an original writ demanding that Parliament approve domestic debt instruments before they are used, including treasury bills and treasury bonds.
9 months later, in November 2024, Mr. Amable sought the Supreme Court order to halt government domestic borrowing, arguing that Parliament does not have visibility and control over domestic borrowing through T-bills, despite their creation of debt for the state. His application was filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court on November 11th 2024. “The government of Ghana has been actively borrowing and creating repayment obligations for the state”, he argued, claiming that while parliament has visibility and control over international borrowings, they lack oversight in domestic debt. The Supreme Court adjourned the case indefinitely, breaking it off with the intention of resuming it at a later date.
