Mr. Ofori Sarkwa is a member of the locked-up investment forum, and he harbours a tearful fear.

“My fear is that I don’t want to die early.”

Mr Sarkwa is demanding that the government probes financial institutions so they pay up his investment to afford him the security and comfort he so desires.

Sharing his concerns on The Pulse on JoyNews, he said he had always believed in the adage, ‘do not put all your eggs in one basket’ and had therefore spread his investments across various financial institutions hoping to live a comfortable life during his retirement.

Then came the financial sector clean up.

He had money in other firms to fall back to so he felt safe, until the recent collapse of Gold Coast Fund Management Company.

Mr Sarkwa explained that his locked-up investment could deny him the basic luxuries of life and lead to his untimely death.

“The fear is, I will die and leave the investment for somebody I don’t know. Government should pay me something small. At least let me buy my drug, let me maintain my car, let me buy DSTV, and watch the premier league- those are the things a pensioner needs to be happy.

“A pensioner should be able to lead a happy life and grow till the good Lord calls you. But if I have all these investments in all these financial houses and I have to cry every night, I have to walk to them, they don’t tell me anything. I cannot buy fuel, I cannot pay my light bill, you I will die early. My fear is I don’t want to die early. So government should look at probing these people up so they can also pay us the interest,” he said.

He stressed that if all the firms he had invested in were paying a third or even half of the returns, he would live a better life.  

In the meantime, he has to live on a “meagre pension from SSNIT,” which he said was hard for him because he had children in school and bills to pay.

Mr Sarkwa continued; “I am suffering and I know a lot in my category are also suffering the same way.”