The leadership of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has revealed that pensioners must not be made to suffer the consequences of government’s fiscal indiscipline, following its announcement of a debt exchange programme.

According to the association, as a matter of urgency, government must withdraw the inclusion of pension funds from its debt exchange program and allow the funds as invested to run until their maturity. It indicated that pension funds are a collection of contributions of individuals and by design, they are meant to protect the vulnerable during retirement.

“Pensioners should not be made to suffer the consequences of government’s fiscal indiscipline when they have paid their fair share of taxes, worked to build the economy whiles taking very low salaries. It is unacceptable that a Government that budgets 18% inflation in 2023 will consider zero interest rate for pension funds of poor, hardworking, law-abiding citizens within the same period.”
GRNMA

Contained in a statement, the Association noted that any treatment of “individuals” as stated by the Minister of Finance on the exchange programme must be indeed extended to all individuals as with pension funds including the GRNMA Fund, a Provident Fund for over 101,000 contributors who are nurses and midwives within the nursing and midwifery fraternity.

Impact of debt exchange on GRNMA members

GRNMA explained that pension funds, particularly Tier 3 schemes participants were encouraged to “hold their investments for a minimum of 10 years”. From its inception in 2012, it stated that most schemes have just met the 10 years or will be 10 years next year.

“Debt exchange for pension funds will mean that workers will not have access to Tier 3 funds after waiting for 5 – 15 years. This is simply unacceptable! By the National Pension Regulatory Authority’s (NPRA) regulations, all Pension Schemes have most of their assets in GOG securities. Trustees of these Pension Schemes were bound by regulation in the asset allocation policy by the NPRA.”
GRNMA

Expressing its conviction on the matter, the association demanded that government should therefore allow its members Bonds to run until their maturity. It underscored that it will therefore be “untenable for the poor worker to suffer under the proposed new bond issuance” as part of the debt exchange.

Prior to this, the Deputy Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Joshua Ansah, warned government not to touch pension funds in its planned debt exchange programme. He stated that the government amidst the panic had failed to engage with organized labour before proceeding with the announcement and rollout of its programme.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, has revealed that the Minority in Parliament was not engaged by the government on the debt exchange programme announced by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. He accused the government of recklessness and dishonesty that have led to the challenges.

“Their recklessness and their dishonesty have brought us to where we are… We were not engaged. You can even hear TUC and others saying they have not been engaged. If they had engaged, there would have been better ways suggested to deal with the challenges.”
Alhassan Suhuyini