Professor Lord Mensah, a professor of economics at the University of Ghana Business School, has petitioned the government to exclude bondholders who are presently unable to engage in productive economic activity to earn income.

He contends that the amount of bonds held by pensioner bondholders is not a sizeable portion that the government cannot do away with.

He pointed out that individual bondholders are not solely responsible for the program's performance.

Because you typically know very well that producing economic activity surrounding these people will be quite low, I rather we exempt retirees and the disabled.

“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.”

Pensioners Petition Finance Minister, Others To Protect Their Benefits

Source: Ghanaweb