Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the majority leader in parliament, claims that the chamber was not adequately informed about the contentious debt exchange program.
He claimed that although the initiative was highlighted during the budget talks, the house leadership was not given a detailed explanation.
The Suame Member of Parliament told Citi FM in Accra that the government must properly consult on the scheme.
“There were meetings before the budget came to be consummated and later on presented by the Finance Minister. So we had broad discussions, but the details were not known to us at the time, but some consultations went on as to where exactly we were as a nation. But I am not too sure that this matter came up for discussion maybe the broad strokes were mentioned but not the details,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told host Bernard Avle.
The Majority has previously issued a warning that Ghana's middle class will be wiped out if the government implemented the debt swap proposal as it currently stands.
The Suame MP called on the Finance Minister to adequately engage with key stakeholders when speaking with a group of individual bondholders led by convener Senyo Hosi and private attorney Martin Kpebu on Friday after receiving a petition to exclude individual bondholders from the debt swap.
“What we [are] talking about is that many of these bondholders also belong to the middle class and that’s where the major worry is. If we are wiping away the middle class, that could be dangerous, so we need to have some further dialogue on this.
“Government thinks that this is the best way forward, however, even if it is, we need to engage, reflect and then move on and that will encourage some people who have some doubt to better appreciate where we are.”
“Nothing can substitute for discussions, round table discussions and engagements wherever we find ourselves in. I think it’s important that we go back to the drawing table to have engagements with the major stakeholders… All of us are in it. And if we don’t manage it well, we’ve gone through this before, way back some 25, 30 years ago and repositioning was a major, major difficulty”, he added.
Today, Monday, January 16, 2023, is the last day for bondholders to join the government's domestic debt swap program
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