Tamale North MP, Alhassan Suhuyini, has blamed government for the challenges surrounding the implementation of its proposed Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE).

The NDC lawmaker said the current state of the programme is due to government’s arrogant posture despite cautions sounded about certain decisions taken earlier.

Contributing to discusssions on Newsfile on Saturday, he said as far back as 2018, there were calls for government to take a critical look at the economy.

He however noted that these well-meaning calls were blatantly ignored by government, leading to the current economic crisis and the attendant problems surrounding the debt exchange programme.

Referring to the government, he said “We were arrogant. We were intransigent. We refused to listen to sound advice. In fact when we were told that our economy was in crisis in 2018, 2019, or was heading there, it was denied”.

The MP continued, “It was pooh-poohed. And by 2020, the COVID had hit and exposed the fact that our government had been managing the economy carelessly. And that they had finished wasting the inheritances that they came to meet”.

In the face of what appears to be a turbulent situation for government, the MP called for a national debt forum to thoroughly discuss the debt exchange programme, as part of efforts to help rebuild the country’s ailing economy.

Mr. Suhuyini’s remarks come on the back of government’s decision to extend the deadline for individual bondholders to subscribe to its domestic debt exchange programme.

Earlier, government had announced that, the deadline was 4pm on January 31.

However owing to unwillingness by stakeholders to enroll onto the programme, the Finance Ministry in a press release on Tuesday said the deadline has been extended to February 7, with a new settlement date of Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

The Ministry said “it has made significant progress with all stakeholders, including financial sector industry associations and representative groups of individual bondholders, with respect to their participation in the Programme”.

“All bondholders are hereby encouraged to commence all administrative processes towards their participation in the Exchange, in line with the agreements reached”, the statement from the Ministry concluded. 

Meanwhile, private legal practitioner and a lead convener of the Individual Bond Holders Association of Ghana (IBHAG), Martin Kpebu has reiterated the group’s refusal to embrace government’s proposal.

Emphasising IBHAG’s position on the matter, he stressed that his side will not be participate in the debt exchange programme.

He said at the moment, his outfit is only waiting for government to redeem its promise to settle the returns of all existing bondholders as agreed in a meeting with the Finance Minister, last week.