Among the many riled by the controversial and “insensitive” Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), is Ghana’s former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo as she joins pensioners who have been picketing at the Finance Ministry for days.
“I find it wicked, I find it disrespectful, I find it unlawful, I find it totally wrong, period! Because you don’t solve your problems by sacrificing your aged. That is the last thing you should do,” she said without mincing words.
She was speaking to journalists today which is the 5th day of pensioners converging at the Ministry of Finance in their resolve not to sign on to the programme, which extended deadline is Friday, February 10, 2023.
The demand of the pensioners, under the umbrella name Pensioner Bondholders Forum, is unequivocal: absolute and total exemption from government’s ongoing debt restructuring programme.
Holders of domestic debt have been asked to voluntarily exchange approximately GHS137 billion of maturing domestic notes and bonds for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037 to be issued by government as part of a wide range of measures to restore the economy.
There have been series of meetings between bondholders and the Ministry of Finance with the latter making some changes to the initial proposal.
Pensioners are, however, adamant to the proposal stating that the exchange programme would hurt their livelihoods, saying their lives in retirement were planned around earnings from such bond investments.
Madam Sophia Akuffo insisted that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta must to go back to the drawing board and rethink about the inclusion of pensioners in the programme.
The 73-year-old former Chief Justice said, “The Minister of Finance better go back to the drawing board and come up with a better proposal otherwise nobody is going to agree to it. I am encouraging people not to agree with it. A contract is a contract, and it must be respected and if you want to renegotiate come to the table with humility and come with a ‘yesable’ proposal,” .
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, has directed the Business Committee to summon the Minister to brief the House on the Government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme that targets bond holdings of pensioners.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has announced that its members would be in Parliament on Tuesday, February 14, to witness the debate between members of the House and the Finance Minister.
Read also: Pensioner bondholders to storm Parliament on Tuesday