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After sacrificing his pocket money to save government from disgrace and embarrassment, the entitlement of Valentine T. Kuuzume, a retired chief director of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has not been paid since 2007. According to him, �Payments that were due me for the appointment into the civil service as a chief director, and the second aspect has to do with my own funds which I have used to meet the expenses of the ministry just to save embarrassing situations which would have arisen if those expenses of the ministry hadn�t been met at those times,� have not been paid to him despite persistent effort to get them. Mr. Kuuzume made this known to the commission of enquiry investigating judgment debts and its related matters and chaired by the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau after he had petitioned the commission to intervene on his non-payment of medical bills and other expenses during the commission�s sitting yesterday. Asked to brief the commission about his petition, the retired Civil Servant said, �My Lord, I retired from the Ghana Civil Service from December 2009, but before then from 2007 up to 2011 there have been some accumulated claims that were due me before my retirement. I have since approached the ministry (Gender, Children and Social Protection) where I retired from since 2009, but have not been paid.� He told the commission that, though he has made �several attempts, several requests persistently, since my retirement for the refund of my claim and up to this day I have not been paid.� Asked by Counsel of the commission, Kofi Dometi Sokpor about the quantum of the amount he was reclaiming, he said, �My Lord, the total amount involved in respect of my purse according to the appointment letter from the public service commission match up to GH�6, 603.00 and $1, 960. And my own funds that I spent to meet government expenses totaled GH�1, 810. 70.� He prayed the commission to as a matter of urgency intervene to ensure that he receives his entitlement since the attitude of the officers at his former ministry is very unbearable. Treatment �My Lord I make this prayer before you because of the attitude the ministry has shown all this while, until there is an intervention I don�t think I will ever be paid.� Court Asked by the Sole Commissioner why he didn�t go to court but instead petitioned the commission, he replied, �My Lord I didn�t go to court just to save myself the time, the resources I will spend in addition to time as a resource, and to save government the additional expenses and interest that I will be entitled to the debt that government had owed me since 2007 up to date.� Again, when Justice Apau asked whether he will sit down for government to take his money if the commission had not been set-up, he replied, in the positive. Mr. Kuuzume told the commission that, he was a chief director from 2005 to 2009 when he retired. �I was first in the ministry of information in an acting capacity as chief director and confirmed at the ministry of information before I went to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. I went there in 2006 then the ministry of women and children affairs.� Wickedness The retired chief director described the ministry�s inability to pay him his due to �Lack of initiative in the matter and just wickedness.� He told the commission that when the first approval was given to the controller and accountant generals department, and was processed, it was ascertained by the controller that there was money available for the ministry to effect the payment. He tendered in correspondence from the audit service, the ministry of finance, the controller and accountant general�s department and the ministry indicating that he was owed some money. The chief directors of the controller and the ministry who were both subpoenaed wrote to ask permission and had the case adjourned to October 20. Sitting continues on Wednesday 15, 2014.