Former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, has urged government to exempt the holdings of pensioners from the debt exchange programme.

His call is premised on the government’s exemption of all pension funds from the programme following a meeting between organized labour, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Finance Ministry, National Security Ministry and other stakeholders on Thursday, December 22, 2022.

The exemption of all pension funds, however, is subject to the government and organised labour working together to explore mutually beneficial options within the debt sustainability terms.

According to Dr. Anane Antwi, the same grace extended to the pension funds should be extended to pensioners’ holdings.

“If pension funds have been exempted from the programme then the funds that have been paid to people who are on pension now and they are investing should also be exempted,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.

Dr. Anane Antwi has mobilized pensioner bondholders under the umbrella of a Pensioner Bondholders Forum to petition government to exempt pensioners from the programme.

According to him, it is rather unfortunate that the government would fail to prioritise the holdings of pensioners during exemptions, and would rather exempt pension funds.

“I realize government has exempted pension funds so I want to mobilise the pensioners and also petition government to exempt the holdings of pensioners because it’s the same amount of money that government thinks that they should not incur for people who are yet to come on pensions you want it to be at least to have some safe thing for you to retire on. If that’s the case why do you…what you have paid for people who are on retirement, why don’t you exempt that one too?” he said.

Many pensioners, he said, may lose the fruits of years of their hard labour should their plea to government fall on deaf ears.