Senyo Hosi, a financial and economic policy analyst, has criticised the government for its decision to include individual bondholders in its proposed debt exchange programme.

Speaking in a JoyNews interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Wednesday, December 12, 2022, Hosi said that the government has squandered all the resources of the country which has led to the current economic mess and it is not lifting a finger to resolve it.

He added that the government is rather worsening the hardship ordinary Ghanaians are facing by tempering with their investments which they depend on for survival.

“On our backs, you are living large. On our backs, you guys have built wealth that you never merit. On our backs, you are living lives that your salaries can not justify.

“And nobody is chasing you for it. You can keep it. At the right time, God will ask you. But please don’t come and now put your hands in our pockets. Some people called saying now they don't know how there are going to pay their wards' school fees.

“… what crime have individual bondholders committed? Their only crime is that they trusted their government,” he said.

The government after promising that its debt exchange programme, dubbed Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE), will only affect securities dealers and funds, private banks and investment companies, insurance schemes, pension funds, and non-resident investors, has now extended it to individual bondholders.

This was after it excluded pension funds from the programme after severe pressure and threats of strikes by labour unions.

IB/DO