Members of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum have threatened to drag the Ministry of Finance to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over their unpaid matured coupons.
Bondholders made this decision in response to the Ministry of Finance’s inability to pay them their matured coupons.
The coupons were scheduled to be paid in February. However, the government has consistently delayed the payment, which the Bondholders are unhappy about.
Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, the convener of the group, told journalists after a meeting with the Finance Ministry that an arbiter is required for an amicable resolution to the issue.
“First the pensioners are asking for payment of interests on the delayed principals. The issue is that, that is the money we are using to invest to get interest and to buy medication and fend for ourselves. So if you have delayed it in some cases over 108 days, then we are saying you can’t keep the money for free, pay interest as you were paying when the principal was with you. So once you haven’t returned the principal, we are asking for payment of interest.
“I have suggested that we will submit the matter to CHRAJ for CHRAJ to go into it and tell us whether we have a right to demand the interest or not,” he said.
He further revealed that the group would resume their suspended picketing at the Ministry of Finance since all efforts to get their matured coupons paid have failed.
“We were expecting the coupons that were due to be paid but we haven’t received any alert. The Deputy Minister says Bank of Ghana has told them that they have sent money to the banks for the banks to credit our accounts but we haven’t seen any crediting from the banks.
“So once no alert has been seen, we are going to continue with our picketing.
“If by the time we leave here we see an alert that the amount is being paid, we won’t come tomorrow but if we don’t see any alert system working today, we will come again Friday.
“Then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we won’t come and if within those three days we see arrears being paid, we won’t come but if we don’t see that, we will come Thursday and Friday.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
