We Won’t Go To Court; Pay Us Our Coupons – Pensioner Bondholders To Government

The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has disclosed that it will not sue the government over delays in the payment of outstanding coupons of its members.

The disclosure was made on the second day of the Forum’s picketing at the Finance Ministry to put pressure on the government to pay their outstanding coupons and principals on bonds.

Convenor of the Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi said the group refuses to go to court because their situation is too dire to wait for the court processes to be exhausted.

“We will not go to court because you can’t wait for your coupons when you are in court, and you are dying. We must put pressure on the government to pay us.”

Members of the Forum picketed at the Finance Ministry for the second consecutive day demanding that government pay all outstanding coupons and principals on their bonds.

This is the second time the group of pensioners is implementing the tactic after they successfully secured an issuer exemption from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in February.

The group members on Monday, May 8, converged at the Ministry of Finance to picket.

Although the government has recently made some payments, the pensioners tell Citi News the lack of clarity and communication from the Ministry makes planning difficult.

“It is just fair at a certain level you maintain your integrity and word, because you have told the whole world, including us and your creditors that you will pay, now what happens? Nothing happens, we are now in May. Early March bonds have not been paid, you are paying it in pieces, and there is outstanding, and we have to figure out what is happening.

“If you have a problem, in all fairness, tell us, tell us the specific payment dates, so that the person can also plan, people need money for their medications. So if the payment date is communicated to us, we will know how to plan. It’s all a matter of communication, if you communicate, we will understand.

“But we are sitting here and we don’t know whether it will be paid or not. You get an alert and the old one has been paid leaving the new ones. We don’t know what is happening,” one of the aggrieved pensioners said.

The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has indicated that it will not relent until the outstanding matured coupons of its members are paid.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Dr. Anane Antwi said all attempts to get the attention of the government to pay their bonds have gone unresponsive which has left them with no other option than to resume picketing at the Ministry of Finance.

“We have tried to get the government to pay the outstanding coupons, and we are not getting the needed payment that must be made, therefore we had to embark on the protest after we had served notice to the government that if we didn’t get paid by 21st [of April], we were going to resume our picketing to back our demand, and we didn’t get any feedback, so we have to resume picketing.”