Chaos As Ofori-Atta’s Meeting With Pensioner Bondholders Is Disrupted

Day Eight of the pensioner bondholders picketing at the finance ministry was cut short following a concern raised by FixTheCountry Convenor Oliver Barker-Vormawor.

On Wednesday, February 15, some members of Arise Ghana, including Convenor of FixTheCountry Oliver Barker Vormawor, the Executive Director of ASEPA, Mensah Thompson, Rex Omar and many others, showed up in solidarity with the retired citizens, who are demanding total exemption from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

The trio’s reasons for joining the pensioner bondholders on Wednesday were simple — to support “senior citizens who find themselves in serious government repression”.

They also thought it was unfair for the government to rob senior citizens of their hard-earned money, especially when the aged ought to be protected.

But their good intention cut short Wednesday’s picketing as a question posed by the social media firebrand Mr Vormawor to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta sent personal security running to the rescue.

Mr Ofori-Atta wanted to understand why the pensioner bondholders had still converged on the premises despite several assurances from his ministry.

According to him, in an earlier statement, the ministry had addressed the concerns of the pensioners, so there was no need for daily picketing.

“I issued a press release some time ago, and I had made it equivocally clear that all government bonds will be honoured and that, therefore, whether you are voluntary or not, whether you have tendered or not, it will be respected.

“I really want to understand why you are still here so that if there is anything more, I can say I can do that. I want to know what it is that you are afraid of or that you think will not happen,” he quizzed.

However, before the bondholders could get a chance to respond, Mr Barker-Vormawor raised the concern of ‘trust’ being a possible reason the sector minister’s assurance is falling on deaf ears.

This interruption infuriated the sector minister, who sharply retorted, “are you a pensioner?” while the pensioner bondholders shouted, “you’re not part of us”.

Mr Ofori-Atta was then whisked away by security personnel at the Finance Ministry.

The meeting between the pensioner bondholders and representatives from the Finance Ministry was subsequently held behind closed doors, away from the media and Arise Ghana members who showed up to support senior citizens.