Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson says his side of the House will file a motion to compel government to exempt individual bondholders from the debt exchange programme.

He added that the motion will also include the exemption of pensioner individual bondholders.

This action, he said will happen on Friday.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Thursday, he said “our intention today was to serve notice that tomorrow the NDC Minority will be filing a motion to compel the government to exempt individual bondholders and pension funds and pensioners from the domestic debt exchange.”

He explained that the decision to file the motion is to ensure that an issuer exemption is granted to bondholders who had faith in the NDC government to invest in risk-free bonds.

According to him, the Minority is also considering filing another motion which would require the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to present the programme to Parliament for approval.

This, he asserted is because “the Constitution is clear that before you go for a loan, the terms and conditions must be approved by Parliament.”

He added that the Public Financial Management Act also affirms the decision for Parliament to make an approval before a loan is sought.

As a result, he noted that “what the Minister is doing is engaging in an illegality and we feel strongly about this so expect a motion to be filed by tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, speaking on Parliament about the status of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, Mr Ofori-Atta has confirmed that all pensioners who did not tender their old bonds for new ones under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) have been exempted.

Speaking in Parliament about the status of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, Mr Ofori-Atta stated that pensioners have nothing to worry about, adding that all of their coupons will be honored upon maturity.