Pensioners for Ghana protest against govment debt exchange program wey affect dem

Pensioners for Ghana gather for Ministry of Finance on Monday to protest against govment debt exchange program wey affect dia individual bond investments.

De group of pensioners dey fight to protect dia pensions in de form of bonds wey dem invest in with government.

De pensioners say most of dem dey need dia monies for medical care, dem no want turn burden on dia families.

But de decision of govment to keep dia monies mean say no money for medical care or dia daily upkeep, which dey like death sentence on dem.

“Some of us get medical issues which wey dey take care of wit de bonds wey we invest wit govment” Dr Adu Anane Antwi, Convenor of de pensioners talk BBC Pidgin.

“Before some of our members dey pay about Ghc400 for blood pressure medicine, now we dey pay Ghc900 for same medication. De money for dis too now govment wan deny us access? Dis be like death sentence to us sake of people health go deteriorate” he add.

De pensioners, all of dem above de ages 60 gather in front of de finance ministry dey hold placards which get messages on dem for govment.

Some of de placards read make you no disturb our pension.

For dis pensioners, dem no go agree to anything apart from total exemption from de debt exchange program.

Why some Ghana pensioners dey protest

De Pensioner Bondholders Forum, vow to picket for premises of Ghana Finance Ministry until govment exempt dem from de Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

De Pensioner bondholders on 10 January 2023, submit petition to govment for exemption to prevent de harsh impact of de programme on pensioners who be bondholders.

As deadline for de debt exchange dey close on Tuesday, government fail to exempt de senior citizens from de debt exchange, sake of dat, dem decide to pitch camp for de Finance Ministry.

Ghana govment Debt exchange programme

Ghana govment dey ask local bond holders to accept losses on interest payments as part of move to restructure dia debt so say dem go fit secure loan facility from International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta bin announce de launch of de Ghana Domestic Exchange Programme in order to reduce de impact of economic hardship on investors wey dey hold govment bonds.

For di plan, existing domestic bonds as of December 1, 2022 go be exchanged for four new bond maturity period.

Under de new debt exchange programme, govment dey ask bondholders to exchange dia instruments for new ones which go mature in 2027, 2029, 2032 Dem 2037.

According to de Finance Minister, dis be part of measures to help restore economic confidence in de Ghanaian market.

Policy analyst, Bright Simmons say, dis be de first time since 1982 where govment default on payment of bonds.

De reason govment dey introduce new bond maturity periods be sake of dem no get enough money to settle matured bonds.

Again, if govment use all dia monies to sort out bonds wey mature, den dis go create more economic hardship for Ghana.

Sake of instead of using de limited monies for running de economy, govment go rather take am sort dis financial instruments.

Dis go make Ghana unattractive for bailouts from institutions like de IMF who dey against using limited resources to service commercial loans.

So what govment do be say instead of paying matured bonds, dem postpone de payment to four new periods in 2027, 2029, 2032 den 2037. E tok.