Individual Bondholders Association recuses itself from DDEP committee

Individual Bondholders Association of Ghana (IBHAG) has recused itself from the deliberations of the Technical Committee of the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

According to the association, its decision to withdraw from the technical committee is necessitated by the deliberations which do not serve the primary interest of its members.

The group argued that the process is turning out to impose pain on its members which is a deviation from promises made by the government.

A statement signed by the Convener of IBHAG, Martin Kpebu, said,  “We write to recuse the Individual Bondholders Association of Ghana (IBHAG) from the deliberations of the Technical Committee. This has become necessary as the deliberations so far seem not to serve the primary interest of the distressed bondholders which is to access their lock-up investments. So far, the process is turning out to rather impose a further degree of pain and despair on the bondholders and also depart from promises made by government to them.

Mr. Kpebu added that,  “the Government cannot continue to be insensitive to the suffering of the individual bond holders by deliberately punishing those who did not sign up to the DDEP as it meticulously executes the various threats made to them for not signing up. The Ministry cannot keep making things comfortable for the government by not sharing in the burden of the economic hardship we are in as a country under its leadership”.

He insisted that they will hold on to the already agreed timelines expecting to receive outstanding principals and coupons to be paid.

“IBHAG will hold on to the already agreed timeline as per earlier meeting on the 14th of April 2023 with the Ministry of Finance where we expect all outstanding Principals and coupons to be paid. We urge you to consider a more sensitive and humane approach to alleviating the plight of the suffering Individual Bond Holders in Ghana,” he stated.

The Convener of IBHAG slammed the Convener of Individual Bondholders Forum (IBF) Senyo Hosi over the position taken by him.

“Senyo Hosi of IBF, appears to be an appendage of the Ministry of Finance; doing its bidding. This is supported by the wavering views, which departs completely from the past collective position of individual bondholders. Private meetings between Senyo Hosi of IBF and the Ministry of Finance, are not the solutions to the concerns of Individual Bondholders whose coupon and principal payments have been in arrears for over two months,” he said.