Details of Debt Exchange programme were not known to parliament – Majority Leader

The Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah has stated that the legislature had little to no details about the government’s Debt Exchange programme prior to its implementation.

According to the majority leader, they had no details beyond some broad discussions about the general state of the economy and with no specific details about the programme.

“There were meetings before the budget came to be consummated and later on presented by the Finance Minister. So we had broad discussions, but the details were not known to us at the time, but some consultations went on as to where exactly we were as a nation. But I am not too sure that this matter came up for discussion maybe the broad strokes were mentioned but not the details,” the Suame MP is quoted in a report by Citinewsroom.com.

The government of Ghana in pursuit, of a $3 million dollar IMF loan, is seeking to manage the country’s debt, announced the programme which seeks to cause variations in the terms of existing coupons.

However, there have been concerns about the programme with some critics complaining about the government’s failure to consult broadly prior to its implementation.

Meanwhile, a group made up of individual government bondholders have petitioned parliament to intervene in their call on government to exclude individual bondholders from the debt exchange programme.

Receiving their petition in parliament last week, the Majority Leader of the House, Osei Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu noted that the programme has the potential to wipe out Ghana’s middle class.

“What we talking about is that many of these bondholders also belong to the middle class and that’s where the major worry is...If we are wiping away the middle class that could be dangerous, so we need to have some further dialogue on this. I’m not sure government takes interest and joy in suppressing anyone no government will have any joy in doing that," he said.

GA/WA