Ghanaians’ lives and livelihoods are taken into consideration by the Akufo-Addo administration, according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
He claimed that the way the administration handled the corvid problem demonstrated its desire to safeguard people’s lives and livelihoods.
He said that going forward, the government will continue to take measures to safeguard all Ghanaians.
Mr. Ofori-Atta established a joint technical committee on Wednesday, January 18, to look into the issues brought up by specific bondholders prior to the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
Following a crucial meeting with bondholders on January 18 under the auspices of the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum (IBF), the minister made this announcement.
The Forum had petitioned the Minister to be excluded from the Programme, which has been scheduled to be rolled out after Tuesday, January 31.
They claimed they have not been adequately engaged by government in an attempt to include their bonds in the Programme.
They accused the government of short-changing them especially as the Programme comes at a time a promise was made there will no haircuts to such investments.
Interacting with journalists after the meeting with the individual bondholders, Finance Minister Ofori-Atta indicated that the Programme is not mandatory and remains voluntary.
He, therefore, urged bondholders to subscribe to the Programme to help the government in efforts to address the economic challenges.
He said “I think the clarity for all of us is that it is a voluntary programme. We have anticipated maybe getting up to 80 per cent which will still put us under the parameter, so we are asking everybody to really join.
“The Forum reiterated their concerns which are legitimate concerns for all individuals and for the country at large. In the same way, in which we met members of the Pensions group, we set up a technical committee and they will be meeting immediately [Thursday January 19], we don’t want to miss the deadline that we have set. We are confident that we will get there.
“The clarity for all of us is that it is a voluntary programme, we have anticipated getting up to 80 per cent which will still put us in the parameter so we are asking everybody to join.
“The government continues to be a government that cares for people, lives and livelihoods as we saw in Covid, we protected and going forward too we will protect but also ensure the Community of the Republic crosses the Jordan safely, that is the challenge we have.”
The committee is expected to begin sitting on Thursday, January 19.
