A Convener of the Individual Bondholders Forum, Senyo Hosi, has told critics who are claiming that he seems to be trusting the words of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in relation to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), that he has the mandate to hold the Minister to his word.
A critic, Kofi Asante, tweeted at him that “My respect for you [Senyo Hosi] soared when you started this advocacy for individual bondholders. What I’m surprised at now, is how you now seem to trust what Ken Ofori-Atta says. Additionally, I don’t understand why there’s disunity with the Pensioners bondholders forum.
But in reply, he said “I don’t have a need to trust KOA. I have a mandate to hold him to his word and the legal standing we have.”
Mr Hosi was reported to have said that individual and pensioner bondholders had the sole responsibility to exempt from the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
“I can relate to her concerns. It’s unfair, I’m equally concerned that someone of her status has very little confidence in the one who is family, and then also someone she has worked with for the past few years.
“I sometimes get lost as to what the pensioners are looking for. We are looking for a total exemption, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has categorically said we can self-exempt. So what exactly are we looking for again from the Finance Minister?
“You have the decision to choose, I think individuals and pensioners have the option to stay out or not. If the deal doesn’t work for you, exempt, if it does fine. I don’t think picketing, shouting and screaming will solve that problem. I will encourage all pensioners to self exempt, there’s no need to scream, self-exempt now,” he told Accra-baaed Citi FM.
This was after a group of pensioners picketed at the Finance Ministry on Friday, February 10 against their inclusion in the debt exchange.
Speaking to journalists after joining a group of pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance in Accra on Friday, February 10, former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo said “These are all people who have worked, they have worked very hard, they could have left the country when others were going but they stayed, they worked for the nation.
“We have had our ups and downs. A lot of us were from generations where we were encouraged to save for tomorrow and all that. We have been through times where all your savings become nonsense because of some government policies, then over the years, bit by bit, people have become more confident in the economy and investments.
“Quite a number of people here today, when they retired last two years they have put everything into government bonds, it is a contract and now all of a sudden, you virtually want to, at gunpoint, force them to agree with you that the repayment of the yield of their investment should be as you dictate it. Why?”
She further criticized the government for not being able to account for the borrowings done over the years.
“Why are we in the mess? Nobody has fully explained to us, yes we took debt, what was it used for? and where is the accountability? Exactly what was it used for? You are not telling us about how you are going to be able to make things better but just that ‘help me and I help you’, no, you help yourself first, let me see you doing something serious because we have seen these sort of things too many times.
“I am over 70 years now, I am no longer government employed, my mouth has been ungagged and I am talking and I am saying that we have failed and it is important that the elderly should be respected. I find this wicked, I find it disrespectful, I find it unlawful, I find it totally wrong.”
The pensioners have been picketing at the Ministry since Monday, February 6 to be exempted from the Programme.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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