The Chief Executive Officer of the Intercity State Transport Corporation, Nana Akomea has appealed to the Pensioner Bondholders Forum to reconsider their position on government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has threatened to picket at the Ministry of Finance on Monday, January 23, 2023 if government fails to exempt them from its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, Dr Adu A. Antwi, the Convener of Pensioner Bondholders Forum, disclosed that the Forum has written to the District Commander of the Ghana Police Service at the Ministries in Accra to notify the Police of their impending action if the government fails to heed their request.
“We have also petitioned key stakeholders in the country, including the Speaker of Parliament, the Council of State, the National House of Chiefs , the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the Chief Imam, the National Peace Council, and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference, about our displeasure on the issue,” he added.
The government in December last year announced an amendment to the initial Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDEP), under which individual bondholders are asked to submit to a “voluntary” exchange of their domestic bonds for new bonds and as a result, existing domestic bonds were to be exchanged as of December 1, 2022 for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.
The pensioners have opposed the government's intention to touch their pensions but speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Nana Akomea asked them to reason with the government as it has become crucial for cooperation from all citizens to help government restore the economy.
According to him, there should be a concensus between the government and pensioners to exempt some members but not all of them.
He cited that the arrangement should be that only members in their old ages (50 years and above) are exempted from the programme but with those below 50 years, the forum should support the government to deduct small sums of money from them in the interest of the economy.
"I think it's late now for the pensioners because the government has already exempted them but if it's not yet late, the government should renegotiate with them to come up with some measures that they pay some little bits to support the government," he explained.
He also appealed to all Ghanaians to lend their support to the government, expounding that the government should open up the programme to capture not just boldholders and pensioners but other individual investments.
He believed this will help alleviate the burden on government in implementing the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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They should g and sell the akyem abuakwa lands to pay for this ***barred word*** debt. They and their ***barred word*** chief benefitted.
Nana Akomea was sacked during ex president Kuffuor’s regime for non-performance and now peace fm is giving him a platform to speak as a pundit. At STC, his salary and benefits are even more than the president so he can talk anyhow. People are angry so he must talk sensibly. Pensioners must suffer due to the recklessness of the government? The finance minister who caused this mess and the government including Nana Akomea who attempted to attribute the crisis to Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war, are still at post and you are asking poor Ghanaians to sign up to this sh*t? The government should make a statement now that all ex gratia payments has been abolished and Ghanaians will take them serious.
Nana Akomea, support should be voluntary. You can't force people to support you. These monies are individual monies of bond holders. If they insist they don't want to be part of this program so be it. What is currently happening is like putting your hands into someone's pocket and taking his or her money out by force.Most of these bond holders are elderly people who use the interest from their savings to take care of their needs, how do you expect them to survive if they are forced onto this program. At times it's difficult to understand. My money is my money, is it by force? Is there any law backing what government is doing? So the cocoa, gold, bauxite, manganese, timber and crude oil are not enough, it's the old men and women lifelong saving that will save Ghana from this self inflicted mess. Assuming there were no bonds, what would government have done? The worrying aspect of it all is that this 3 billion IMF will come and within a Matter of one to two years, you( so called politicians) will send Ghana back to square one. Ghana's problem is not about resources, it's all about leadership. We don't have a leader, you don't walk anyhow and on getting to the crossroads and not knowing which direction to take, you go back to the people you bypassed to come come and assist you find the right direction, they won't. If you don't involve people at the beginning, don't also involve them at the end. You had enough of the tax payers money to take 60% of the cost of V8's for 275 MP's. If you want V8 buy your own. How many of these bond holders are using V8's, you think they don't know what is luxury? You can't eat your cake and have it, it can't happen. Ken Ofori atta have destroyed the chances of who ever will take over as NPP presidential candidate in 2024, that person is in big trouble. 30 million Ghanaians with 60 million eyes see someone as black, one person with 2 eyes says that person is white, can you imagine.
Nana Akomea has a rotten brain. How do you take Ghanaians for. Your government borrowed and shared all the money to themselves and now asking poor Pensioners to pay. What are you talking about. Ask your family members only to pay.
Fuck you Nana Akomea. ***barred word*** when your government was ducking around and fooling around with the economy did you listen to us. You called the NDC enemies of progress. Now you have retrogressed us and put us into this mess only to come and tell us this ***barred word***. You are very ***barred word*** paa. Your mother en ***barred word*** ***barred word***.