Renowned medical doctor and political commentator Arthur Kobina Kennedy has claimed that the sale of state assets to politicians and politically exposed persons is the least of state capture; the appropriation of state resources for personal use, stating that through judgment debts, the state is losing much more to unscrupulous individuals.

He noted that through the award of fraudulent contracts which end up in huge judgment debts, people are enriching themselves at the expense of the state.

This is done notwithstanding the setting up of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), he pointed out, adding that the impunity with which state resources are best looted could spell doom for the country.

“We’ve lost a lot of money through the fraudulent award of contracts even though we set up a Public Procurement Authority… I worry that this culture of impunity that is going on could, one day, lead us to where we don’t want to go,” he said on Joy FM’s current affairs show Newsfile on Saturday, July 20, 2024.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor, speaking on the same show, noted that the sale of state assets did not start under the Presidency of Akufo-Addo, but has been an ongoing challenge, adding that the politicization of the issue does not help to address it.