The Pension and Independent Bondholders are questioning the sincerity of the Finance Minister’s apology over the mess created by the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP).

This was after Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, during a town hall meeting in Accra, acknowledged the hardships being experienced in the country.

The Finance Minister explained that, “We decided to restructure our debts because it was one of the requirements by the IMF. We started with the domestic debt exchange programme and the domestic debt exchange programme was very successful, achieving 95 percent participation. On this note, I would like to appeal to the people of this country to forgive us.

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“It is never the intention of any government to impose hardships on its people, more so the NPP government that has demonstrated that we want to reduce the burden of the Ghanaian people.”

According to Dr. Amin Adam, “It was a necessary, important decision at the time. If we had avoided it our development or economy would not be what it is today. All the support you gave us during the DDEP has contributed largely to the recovery our economy is seeing today".

But speaking to JoyNews, a member of the bondholders’ forum, Harry Yamson, said the apology does not lessen the impact of Ghana's challenging fiscal space on the people.

"No one can accept a non-apology. This cannot be an apology. I mean this is essentially asking people to not acknowledge the truth.

"The truth is that the government is not making good on the amount that it needs to pay to bondholders. The government is not paying those amounts. It is more in default than it is respecting its obligation," he stressed.

On his part, the Convenor of the Pension Bondholder Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, said while the apology may be accepted, it does not undo the pain endured during the period.

"Traditionally, I haven't come across anybody who will apologize and people will say they will not accept. They will normally accept the apology.

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"But as we know, apology does not solve problems that have been caused by one's action. If I slap you and later on I apologise, you will still have gotten the slap I gave you and so that is the challenge I have.

"So when we are doing some of these things, we should be mindful so that we don't do things that will create discomfort for others."

He asked the government to focus on reducing the national debt to bring relief to the suffering masses.

“You can’t talk about having improved things when invested funds are still locked up in this financial market,” he stressed.