Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has observed that the government’s Debt Exchange Programme could wipe out the middle class.
He is, therefore, calling on the Minister of Finance for further engagements with affected individuals.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu made the point while speaking with a group of individual bondholders led by the Convener, Mr. Senyo Hosi; and Private Legal Practitioner, Martin Kpebu when they submitted a petition to exclude individual bondholders from the debt exchange to Mr. Kyei Mensah-Bonsu.
The Majority Leader, who doubles as the MP for Suame Constituency in the Ashanti region said, “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.
Today many people are coming on board and if this thing should happen, how do we build confidence and trust and reconstruct a new savings culture?” he enquired.
