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Government through the Bank of Ghana will issue the county's third seven-year bond in May this year to raise GH?300 million. This notice was contained in the Bank of Ghana calendar for the issuance of government securities released Tuesday, January 7, 2014. The central bank would also sell one five-year bond in March and three three-year bonds in February, April and June this year. In all, the Bank of Ghana is hoping to raise some GH?12.7 billion from the sale of government securities from January to June. The country last year issued two seven-year bonds in August and November to raise GH?100 million each. Some analysts are hopeful the issuance of these long-term bonds would encourage some corporate institutions as well as government agencies like the Volta River Authority (VRA) to issue long-term bonds to finance their operations. Joy Business has gathered that the government is using the issuance of these bonds to explore the possibility of selling a 20-year bond soon. Fortiz-Merchant Bank deal for CHRAJ? The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority in Parliament is considering petitioning the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the controversial sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz. They also indicated that they would alternatively pursue the matter at the law courts. The decision came after the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, dismissed a motion filed by the Minority demanding an enquiry into the sale, on Monday. Deputy Minority Leader for the NPP, Dominic Nutiwul said the Speaker's decision to throw out their motion will not stop them from pursuing the matter out of Parliament. "First of all, I can challenge the ruling of the Speaker when we come back on January 28", he stated. The Deputy Minority Leader maintained that government was hiding "a lot" regarding the controversial takeover of Merchant Bank by Fortiz because of how the motion was swiftly thrown out by the Speaker. Also, the NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Afiduase Asokore, Frank Boakye Agyen, had alleged that there was political interference in the ruling delivered by the Speaker on Monday, January 6, 2014. Mr Agyen believed that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, did influence the Speaker's decision to throw out the motion.