DDEP: ‘I feel used after 38 years of service’ – Retired soldier cries out for his coupon payments
A retired officer of the Ghana Armed Forces says he feels used by the state after 38 years of service.
Rtd. Commodore Samuel Wiredu Anim was part of the pensioners who picketed at the Finance Ministry this morning to demand payment of their coupons.
The Pensioner Bondholders have resumed for Day 3 of the second phase of their demonstration.
“I’m drinking some water during. During those days when I was in the Ghana Armed Forces, in a period like this, no water was required but for this little duration, you see that I am taking water because the body has been used – and I will say by the government. For over 38 years that I served the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.
The Minister is yet to give them any form of audience since they resumed on Monday.
The former soldier says this has greatly affected his ability to adequately cater for his dependents.
The picketing was held from 10 am to 11 am on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
Convener of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi says his members are struggling to survive due to the economic conditions.
“We are saying if the government does not have anything at all, Treasury bill market is still there, they need to pay people because this is life and death,” he told JoyNews.
“We are pensioners, we need this money for important things such as drugs and upkeep, after serving the nation, you don’t expect pensioners to go through this ordeal for their own money”, he lamented.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum last week advised government to seek funding from the Treasury bills market to settle their matured investments.
Government promised to pay the bondholders who were exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), but the Finance Ministry failed to make the settlement.
Source: Ghana News
