No bondholder will continue to make sacrifices – Martin Kpebu

Legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu says that individual bondholders must not be included in government’s Domestic Debt Exchange programme.

He says bondholders have suffered enough of the economic crisis and will not make any further sacrifices.

Speaking on JoyNews‘ AM Show, the lawyer who doubles as a convenor of the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum, lamented the huge value lost on the bonds.

According to him, research indicates that between 50% and 80% of the value of the bonds has been lost.

“There’s no way anybody will sacrifice further,” he said.

Mr. Kpebu speculated that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and President Akufo-Addo have ran down the economy adding that their families “are now the rich guys in town.”

According to Mr Kpebu, people are dying as a result of the government’s resort to including individual bondholders in the debt exchange programme.

Mr Kpebu says that their stance remains unchangeable and is ready to reiterate this at an upcoming meeting with the government.

He added that the incessant calls for negotiation between both parties are “prolonging our pay and killing more people.”

Meanwhile, given that both parties have not reached a common ground, government has extended the deadline for opting into the Domestic Debt Exchange programme to January 31, 2023.

However, Political Risk Analyst, Dr. Theo Acheampong has said that government might struggle to meet the deadline again amidst the disagreements that stakeholders continue to show.