Finance ministry’s disrespect is unpardonable – Locked Up Funds Investment Forum

Members of the Locked Up Investment Holders Forum have expressed displeasure over the lack of respect shown to them by the authorities at the finance ministry.

According to the Forum, the finance ministry has treated them with disdain, as not a single official attended to them when they picketed at the premises on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.

“When we went there this Wednesday to picket, nobody attended to us. We were neglected for all the time we spent at the ministry’s premises. Sometimes, it is very painful. It is like they don’t respect us, the people who have gathered on the premises. At least, it would have been courteous for someone from the Ministry to come and speak to us, but nobody attended to us. We stood there until it was 12 pm and we left. Whether they attend to us or not, we will continue picketing until we get our locked-up funds paid,” the Convener of the Locked Up Investment Holders Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, said in an interview with New York-based Adinkra Radio Morning Show Host, Daakyehene Ofosu Agyemang.

He disclosed that they’ve petitioned Parliament over their locked-up investments and are set to meet Parliament on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.

Members of the Locked Up Investment Holders Forum have their investments, running into millions of Ghana cedis, locked up in some distressed financial institutions licensed and regulated by the Bank of Ghana.

The financial institutions, which include NDK Financial Services, SIC Savings and Loans, Bond Savings and Loans, and SDC Financial Services, have for the past six years failed to pay either the principal or dividend to their customers despite several calls at their various offices.

The members of the forum, many of whom have reached their retiring age, say the situation has left them living like paupers, unable to have a comfortable life.

They are therefore urging the government, through the Ministry of Finance, to declare the affected institutions insolvent and pay off their locked-up funds.