Hopeson Adorye, a one-time parliamentary aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the Ministry of Finance and its consultants who benefited from government bonds to explain the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) to Ghanaians.
He urged the Ministry of Finance to consult with the Attorney General before making a judgment about domestic creditors.
Further, he warned Ken Ofori-Atta and his colleagues that including private bondholders in the deal would only make matters worse for the government, and he pushed them to do so.
“It’s too much for us to handle at the moment. By the end of January, I expect that a decision will have been made and a perspective taken by the administration. The ultimate conclusion must be positive for the Ghanaian people. There are a variety of bondholders who may need to withdraw their funds for various reasons.
“If we were more careful with our spending, we wouldn’t be in this problem, but a lot of money is being wasted right now. Things have been stolen by people without any consequences. We have enough cash on hand, but our financial management is a mess. It would be wise to get the Attorney-General’s view on this. There can be no peace in the country if the government follows through on its threat to go after individual bondholders, therefore I expect them to reverse course.
“Those that gained from this situation will never speak publicly about it. You’ll be blamed for ruining the party if you mention it, but the beneficiaries won’t waste their time trying to defend themselves to the general public. You should be the one to discuss this because you made the decisions and profited from the advantages of the bonds. Your profiting consultants are the ones who should be explaining things to the media.
The administration has suggested not paying 2023 bondholder rewards as required by the IMF bailout. In 2024, as per the agreement, the benefits will once again be paid out at a rate of 5%. There has been a lot of backlash against the government over this plan, with many people claiming that it is making an already difficult situation even worse for ordinary Ghanaians.
Source – Tru News Report
