The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to review the domestic debt exchange program.
According to Justin Frimpong Kodua, the general secretary of the party, many members are not happy about the program.
According to a report by Citi FM, in a meeting with the Finance Minister and other party leaders, Justin Koduah said the party’s headquarters have been inundated with calls for the government to consider the debt exchange program.
This call by the party comes after the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, shared a similar opinion last week.
Speaking with a group of individual bondholders led by convener Senyo Hosi and private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu after a petition to exclude individual bondholders from the debt exchange was presented to him on Friday, the Suame MP called on the Finance Minister to properly engage with major stakeholders.
“What we’re talking about is that many of these bondholders also belong to the middle class, and that’s where the major worry is.” If we are wiping out the middle class, that could be dangerous, so we need to have some further dialogue on this.
“The government thinks that this is the best way forward; however, even if it is, we need to engage, reflect, and then move on, and that will encourage some people who have some doubt to better appreciate where we are.”
“Nothing can substitute for discussions, round table discussions, and engagements wherever we find ourselves.” I believe it is critical that we return to the drawing board in order to engage with the major stakeholders…All of us are in it. “And if we don’t manage it well, we’ve gone through this before, way back some 25 to 30 years ago, and repositioning was a major, major difficulty,” he added.
The government has extended the deadline for bondholders to voluntarily exchange their bonds for new ones for the third time.
It is currently unclear how many institutions or individuals have signed onto the program, which has been rejected by several groups.