The Pensioner Bondholders Forum members are picketing at the Ministry of Finance to push further for the payment of all their outstanding coupons and principals.
The picketing resumed at 10 am today and is set to continue until further notice.
The Convener of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi says members of the group are struggling to survive due to the economic conditions.
“We are saying if the government does not have anything at all, the Treasury bill market is still there. They need to pay people because this is life and death”.
“We are pensioners. We need this money for important things such as drugs and upkeep. After serving the nation, you don’t expect pensioners to go through this ordeal for their own money”, he lamented.
Dr. Antwi continued that “the government is the issuer, we cannot suggest payment for the ministry [Finance] that’s why we said we are not interested in anything. If you are an issuer you plan your cash flow in such a way that you can meet the coupon and the principal payments”.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum last week advised the government to seek funding from the Treasury bills market to settle their matured investments.
The government promised to pay the bondholders who were exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), but the Finance Ministry failed to make the settlement.
“We are fighting for exemptions, we have been exempted, and now we are not being paid. We are fighting for coupons and payments. From March 1, some people said they had received their coupons on the first one while others said on the 5th one. We don’t know which ones they are paying for. If they had started paying March 3 and March 5 that is the payment they have started paying. From that time will be about two months and over in arrears. They haven’t said anything and that is the worrying situation,” Dr Anane stated.