Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak, has lamented the seeming delay by government in engaging stakeholders on the issues of the economy.

According to him, the NPP government has a penchant for engaging in consultations only when there is a push back or resistance from people. He revealed that on the issue of economic crisis, government’s proposed debt restructuring should have gone through the necessary protocols.

Dr Apaak indicated that negotiations with stakeholders should have been carried out way back to inform Ghanaians on the way forward in terms of the debt restructuring.

“The NADAA/NPP government you will agree, has a penchant of doing consultations only when there is a push back/resistance.”
Dr Clement Apaak

Dr Apaak noted that he is of the firm view that government didn’t have a plan before going to the IMF. This, he explained, was even after former President John Mahama, Rev Opuni-Frimpong and many experts had advised that a national stakeholders forum be held on the economy to inform best options.

“And rather than NADAA/NPP taking responsibility for the worse economic crisis ever, due to their reckless borrowing, crass mismanagement and barefaced corruption, their lame and untenable excuse is ‘oh, it would have been worse if JM/NDC was in charge’ really! Nonsense.”
Dr Clement Apaak

Elaborating on the extent of government’s seeming neglect, Dr Apaak stated that the Akufo-Addo led NPP must “delusionally think the people of Ghana are zombies”, especially in its approach to matters.

Government is currently engaging individual bondholders on their inclusion in the debt exchange programme to forge the way forward. Pending further stakeholder engagement with institutional and individual investors, it has extended the deadline for its Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) Programme to January 31.

In a press release issued by the Finance Ministry, it indicated that the Government had structured the DDE programme as a “voluntary exercise in order to shield domestic bondholders”. However, it will use the period to further engage with stakeholders, especially individual bondholders to mitigate any adverse impact.

The finance ministry further explained that important discussions were ongoing with financial institutions, notably in relation to forbearance measures, accounting treatment, as well as the structure and parameters of the Ghana Financial Stability Fund (GFSF). The Ministry highlighted that a successful DDE was critical to advance the nation’s economic recovery process, therefore, “it is in our common interest to make it work”.

Stakeholders calls for proper engagement with bondholders

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Ghana Securities Industry Association, Antonio Kisseih, has called for proper stakeholder engagement on the domestic debt restructuring programme.

He stated that the two weeks extension of the debt programme to January 31^st of this year should offer the government the opportunity to iron out all the issues raised concerning the ongoing programme and seek stakeholder input in the policy.

He noted that previous meetings with the Finance Ministry on the subject have largely been approached in a top-down manner with barely any input from the stakeholders going to be affected by the programme.

Mr Kisseih noted that the current perception of the programme in its form seems like an imposition, which requires further engagement to resolve demands.

Prior to this, ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, requested the finance minister to immediately suspend the ongoing Debt Exchange Programme and conduct further stakeholder engagements.

Dr Forson indicated that the policy will affect households and livelihoods negatively, as such, it cannot be rushed through. He noted that the government had an opportunity to learn from best practices on the issue but failed to do so.

The former Deputy Finance Minister explained that the two countries that have undertaken this exercise before, Greece and Jamaica, had experiences the country could have learnt from.