Exempt pensioners, disabled from debt exchange programme – Lord Mensah

An economist at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Lord Mensah, has asked the government to exempt bondholders who are currently not able to engage in active economic activities to generate revenue.

According to him, the volume of bonds that pensioner bondholders hold is not a significant part that government cannot do away with.

He noted that the success of the programme is not entirely hinged on individual bondholders.

“I will prefer we exempt pensioners and the disabled, because usually these are people [of whom] you know very well that generating economic activities around themselves will be very low.

“So, I will plead with the government: I don’t think the quantum of bonds that they are holding within the entire debt structure will be so much,” he said. “I don’t think they will exceed GHC3 billion,” he is quoted by asaasenews.com.

Meanwhile, pensioner bondholders have served notice that they would converge at the Ministry of Finance on January 23, 2023, if the finance minister does not honour their invitation for a broader stakeholder engagement.

The forum, led by Dr. Adu A. Antwi, stated that a petition has been sent to the finance minister to exclude them from the programme and protect their pensions but all efforts to reach the minister have been unsuccessful.

According to him, the convergence at the ministry is to register their displeasure over their inclusion in the debt exchange programme.

Speaking to journalists on January 16, 2023, he said “If, by January 23, there is no response from the Finance Minister, about 50 of us will converge at the Ministry. A lot of us would have loved to be there but some of us are weak and we cannot even stand for long.”





SSD/DA