Dominic Anarigide, the Deputy Constituency Secretary for the NDC in Navrongo is displeased about the government’s decision not to formally exempt pensioner bondholders from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
He explained that it is unfortunate that Ghana does not have any policies that deliberately targets retirees but the situation is made even worse, now that the government is bent on disrupting the investment plans of the retirees.
On his official Facebook page, Mr. Anarigide wrote, “Ghana doesn’t have a deliberate policy that takes care of the aged(retirees). So, if it’s bad to want to take their money if they decided to invest in government bonds. Their investment is their plan of taking care of themselves when we failed to care for them as a state. Please, exempt them so they don’t take die early.”
It would be recalled that in a recent interview, the founder of the Millar Open University and individual bond holder, Professor David Millar, is worried that the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, and his Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, are not grasping the actual consequence of their insistence on individual bond holders in the ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE).
As part of the government’s effort to secure board level agreement for an IMF programme, it launched the Domestic Debt Exchange programme in December last year. The programme was to help the government restructure its debt and prove debt sustainability. The government included individual bond holders in its attempts to satisfy the pre-conditions for an IMF deal.
The decision was met with stiff opposition by the individual bond holders.
When Professor Millar spoke at a round table discussion on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, he expressed worry about losing the value of his investments.
“I am a bond holder; quite a substantial amount. We were made to understand that it was the most secure way of keeping your money. The government bonds served as a very secure place to put your money. [I want to start] with the borrowing spree we went on. For me, borrowing is not the problem. The problem is what you use the borrowed funds to do. You can borrow excessively and invest in such a way that you pay plus profits. This is what we missed. That is where the government failed.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
