A former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Thomas Manu has asked Fidelity Bank to officially states its position on GH¢10 billion ESLA PLC bonds. 

In a letter written to the bond trustees of the Fidelity Bank by his lawyer, Martin Kpebu on Monday, February 6, he wondered why the trustees did not object to the inclusion of the said bond in the ongoing Debt Exchange Programme. 

According to him, he is greatly affected by the action and demands answers from his fund managers. 

The letter stated that Mr Manu finds the action most unfortunate and worrying. 

“Our client is a holder of bonds issued by ESLA PLC under its GH¢10 billion bond issuance programme and issued pursuant to the prospectus dated 12th October 2017 ("ESLA Bond").

“The Government of Ghana as part of its proposed Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP)commenced in December 2022, announced the inclusion of the ESLA Bond in the DDEP, a situation that our client finds worrying and most unfortunate for the following reasons:

a. the ESLA Bond was issued and is being run under a particular prospectus (dated 12th October 2017);

“the source of repayment of maturing coupons and the principal, as disclosed in the prospectus, is the EDR Levy, being a levy against various petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, marine gas oil, fuel oil, and liquefied petroleum gas sold to customers through oil marketing companies in Ghana and imposed under the Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015 (Act 899),” excepts of the letter read. 

He has asked the trustees to promptly state its position publicly.