Martin Kpebu, convener of the Individual Bondholders Forum has attacked Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister for his statement on the collapsing of Ghana’s economy by March if a loan is not secured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Monday, February 6, pleaded with the pensioners to accept a 3.5% cut and accept the new terms of 15% coupon rate and 5% maturity.
“We really feel that government has listened, there is humanity to us, we are protecting the destitute, widows and the orphans and the older people who have worked for this nation. We are in a crisis, we cannot put our heads under the sun and pretend that we are not . . .
“We need to be mindful that we really need to be successful in going to the fund by this March to avoid what we all experienced last year which we all don’t want to experience again,” he revealed.
In an interview with Peace FM’s morning show, ‘Kokrokoo’, Martin Kpebu requested of the Finance Minister to stop abusing his power and instilling fear in the citizens.
“Ghana won’t collapse. Anyone who will say Ghana will collapse is being deceitful. It’s just scaremongering, which is bad . . . it’s just an abuse of office. It’s never true . . . in the worst-case scenario, what we would have to do is to reduce the 3 billion,” he revealed.
Article 36:1 of the 1992 constitution clearly says “the state shall take all necessary action to ensure that the national economy is managed in such a manner as to maximize the rate of economic development and to secure maximum welfare and to provide adequate means of livelihood and suitable employment” . . . “You’ve not been able to do this yet you want to take what we’ve struggled to put down,” he added.
Ken Ofori-Atta in his address also called on eligible individual bondholders to voluntarily tender their holdings and participate fully in the DDEP in order to ensure the success of the government’s debt operation.
However, Martin Kpebu has beseeched individual bondholders to reject the new amendment made by government.
“We urge our members not to accept this new agreement. They shouldn’t sign it . . .” he urged.
