Convener of the Individual Bondholders Forum, Martin Kpebu, says the government’s domestic debt exchange programme has been a rude political awakening to most middle-class Ghanaians.

According to him, the middle class – who are fond of staying on the fence in issues of national discourse – have had no choice but to take a stand against the government’s debt treatment following their inclusion in the exercise.

He noted that the debt treatment has afforded this section of Ghanaians a chance to reevaluate their stance on their participation in national discourse.

“So it means that in the process people have had a rude political awakening and you see it has provided a fine opportunity for us to now evaluate our participation in our own governance. So having learnt the lesson the hard way, I foresee that moving forward; our society won’t be the same because now people are feeling it directly.

“Evans, can you imagine for all the bondholders who were due to be paid last Monday 6^th February, and who as we speak now have not received payment and don’t know when they’ll receive payment you can imagine,” he said on PM Express on JoyNews.

He noted that “the pain, the anger, the anxieties and everything they’re feeling is going to feed into how we hold government accountable going into the future. Because Evans, you’ve seen how former chief justice Sophia Akuffo had to come out last Thursday and then today Tuesday, 14^th February.

“You see how she had to come out. And yesterday professor Osam, pro-vice chancellor also came out. So these are very good signs that our society is changing,” he said.