Pensioner Bondholders suspend picketing Finance Ministry after reaching payment agreement with government
Pensioner Bondholders Forum have suspended their picketing the Finance Ministry after reaching payment with government.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, the group said they will not picket at the Ministry on Monday, May 15.
“As a result of the agreement reached with the Ministry on the payment of outstanding coupons and principals to pensioners, we are hereby suspending our picketing from Monday, 15th May 2023.”
Meanwhile, they threatened to resume picketing should the Finance Ministry fail to honour the agreement.
“Should the Ministry renege on any of the agreed points, we shall resume picketing the Ministry,” the statement added.
The retirees from Monday, May 8, have been gathering at the Ministry from 10 am to 11 am every day chanting patriotic songs in the hope that their presence will pile pressure on government to honour the about 19 coupons and 3 principals outstanding.
For most pensioners, the delay in payment does not only affect them but their dependents also.
An aggrieved member in a media interview narrated his frustration and called on the government to urgently pay them their monies.
“All we want is our monies to be paid. The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, promised to give us our money, but up till now we have not received anything.
“We are monitoring everything because we worked hard, there’s no way any of our monies will go unpaid that we will not track. We are not asking for any social services, we are asking for our money.
“Please convey to the Finance Minister that he must keep his word and pay us. We wouldn’t be here if he had kept his promise,” he said.
However, the government agreed to pay all outstanding coupons to them.
At the instance of the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr Adam Amin, a meeting was convened on Friday, May 12, the government assured the pensioners to pay all outstanding coupons while discussions surrounding principal payments continue.
Source: Ghana News
