By Rachel Kakraba
Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, says government did not err in the approach used to include individual bondholders in the Debt Exchange Programme. He said bondholders were given a free hand to voluntarily sign onto the programme or otherwise.
Responding to critics of the lack of broad consultation in the debt exchange programme, he said the difficulties of the time meant the government had to take bold decisions.
Speaking on GBC’s Current Affairs Programme ‘FOCUS’, Mr. Boakye-Danquah said the government has been transparent in its dealings on the debt exchange Programme, adding it is always looking out for the interests of the people.
He was hopeful that further engagement between individual bondholders and the Minister of Finance would yield fruitful results.
For, Ranking Member on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament and MP Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor, government has failed in the debt exchange programme for lack of relevant engagement.
He said, ”it is unfortunate that investment in bonds which is the safest has turned out otherwise.”
Convenor, Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum, David Ganesha Tetteh, said the government has been the cause of its own problem as a result of reckless mismanagement.
He said the individual bondholders are the most vulnerable in all this and asked the government to be more committed to expenditure cuts.
