Vice President of the Ghana Securities Industry Association, Antonio Kisseih, has called for proper stakeholder engagement on the domestic debt restructuring programme.

He said the two weeks extension of the debt programme to January 31^st of this year should offer the government the opportunity to satisfactorily iron out all the issues raised concerning the ongoing programme and seek stakeholder input in the policy.

He noted that previous meetings with the Finance Ministry on the subject have largely been approached in a top-down manner with barely any input from the stakeholders going to be affected by the programme.

According to him, should the government maintain the status quo, there shall be a stalemate.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Antonio Kisseih said, “This time we hope there is going to be a proper stakeholder engagement. The way it is seen or perceived now is more like an imposition. So imposition, you go and meet, you have your audience, you talk, you leave, you have a further meeting, a memoranda is circulated.

“But you know let us sit down, let’s have a frank, open, transparent dialogue. Let us show what the numbers are. You know, it shouldn’t be the crime we’ve done is to lend money to your government. Let’s have that open conversation so that we can all be on that same page. And I think that is what should happen within the two weeks,” he said.

“Take us to Peduase or wherever, let’s sit three, four, five days and let’s come to agreement. How I see it that is the only viable way for us to come to some sort of consensus. The way it is going now, my biggest fear is that there will be some stalemate if there’s no proper engagement. That’s what’s going to happen,” he added.

Meanwhile, government has announced it will be having a meeting with stakeholders on Wednesday to address concerns raised on the debt exchange programme.