By Eric Murphy Asare

Lawyer Martin Kpebu, convener for Individual Bondholders says he does not have records of those who have converted their bonds into treasury bills as said by the finance minister, however, they will be writing officially to the finance minister to verify those who have converted their bonds.

According to him, it is discriminatory treatment and it's against the law for some people to have the opportunity at the expense of the majority.

“That's discriminatory treatment and it's against the law, allowing few people to have the opportunity secretly than the majority, that's discriminatory treatment, government should not discriminate among citizens”he told Omanhene Yaw Adu Boakye on thursday, february 16th, 2023.

He questioned the process of selecting the few people who have converted their bonds into treasury bills.

“How did he select those people out of the millions of bondholders, that's where we should be looking at, so we will write for the information and interrogate it further but straight away, it's against the law once there was no public announcement, no general invitation, no general disclosure, he has gone contrary to the law”.

According to Mr. Kpebu ON Sompa TV/FM Morning Show monitored by this portal, the president and the finance minister have enriched themselves with bonds through Databank even after the World Bank cautioned the country on inordinate debts.

“World Bank called on the government in 2021 to implement a debt suspension service plan but Ken Ofori Atta disoblige because he has his share anytime the country borrows” he added.

The finance minister on meeting the bondholders and the media said, “Really there's no reason for us to be sitting here because that assurance has been given on paper, I want to know what it is that you are afraid of or that you think will not happen, my issue is that now you have very little of the old bonds existing this means that in the event of a crisis your ability to trade your paper is diminished but that is a choice you made”.

In reaction, Mr. Kpebu said; by law bondholders have the right to sell their bonds, a statement he said was confirmed by his technical team who are also bondholders.

“My technical team says it's not true you can't sell your bond, they have refuted the claim by the finance minister that tradability will be minimized, secondly bonds are not mainly sold because bondholders want their interest and so they wait for the date to expire other than that they will lose their interest”.

He added that pensions funds were exempted by the government but refused to exempt individual bonds and that is the reason for their picketing, adding that some bonds matured on 6th February 2023 totaling 4.2 billion cedis”, he concluded.

“Last week Monday, 6th February 2023, some bonds totaling 4.2 billion cedis were matured and that includes individuals, Banks, and others but until now the government has refused to pay and has not given reasons for not paying.

Source//Sompaonline.com/Gh.