I’ll support anyone ready to sue over debt exchange programme – Adongo

Deputy Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo says he is ready to support anyone livid over the government’s debt exchange and is seeking legal redress over the issue.

“My team and I are ready to support any group of investors and bondholders who agree to come together for a class action to sue the Minister of Finance and the Government to reverse this decision,” he said in a Citi News interview.

Following the country’s worrying debt stock and interest payments, government has come announced a debt exchange programme, hoping to realign some domestic bonds to give it some fiscal breathing space ahead of the bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

While launching the domestic debt programme on Monday, December 5, Ken Ofori Atta said the government was inviting “holders of domestic debt to voluntarily exchange approximately GH¢ 137 billion of the domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including E.S.L.A. and Daakye bonds, for a package of New Bonds to be issued by the Republic.”

The debt exchange programme, which is a Government initiative seeks to classify domestic bonds into four categories to create fiscal space as part of preparations to qualify Ghana for an IMF facility.

But Isaac Adongo in an interview with Citi News said the program is an illegality solely perpetuated by the Finance Minister.

“When you issue a bond, it is an agreement. You advertise a prospectus which becomes the agreement, and you are bound by those agreements to respect them. You cannot unilaterally sit in your office and shred them and illegally and arrogantly compel people to accept what you want.

“We are all aware that since yesterday, our financial sector has become inundated by customers calling in with others actually rushing there thinking that something untoward was happening to their money. Today, I want to appeal to all investors and bondholders to exercise caution and spare our financial sector from further pressure.”

Mr. Adongo went on to allege that Ken Ofori-Atta overrode Cabinet and announced a rollout of the programme.

“I want to announce that it is quite clear from the Attorney General that this was not the action of the Government. It is the action of Ken Ofori-Atta and not the Government. It is not possible for Cabinet to approve a transaction that the chief legal officer says is illegal, so Ken [Ofori-Atta] is on his own.

“He already collapsed our banking sector and our microfinance institution, and he also collapsed our capital market, where liquidity dried up way in 2021. He has set us back twenty years in our fight to build a resilient and legal capital market.”

He called on all affected stakeholders to come together to ensure the Government ditches the programme in the shortest time.