Dr Adhu Annan Antowi, chairman of the Pension Bondholders Forum, said pensioners will not stop picketing at the Treasury until the coupons are paid.
Pension bondholders will resume picketing on Friday, June 2, to demand payment of outstanding amounts, according to Dr Annan Antowi.
But he said the forum will give a three-day grace period from Monday, June 5 to Wednesday, June 7, before the ministry starts paying.
But a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner said pensioners would congregate at the department on Thursday if nothing reflected in their accounts by the given grace period.
“We expect real payments, so we will stop picketing until they start. Until we see something, that is our decision. Nothing will move from here because we have been working on these promises and they have not come true.
“Within a week, one or two coupons will expire every Monday. If we don’t see any signs by Wednesday, the government will decide we can’t pay and we’ll be here on Thursday,” he said.
His comments were in response to Deputy Finance Minister Avena Osei-Asareh’s appeal to the forum to stop the picketing at the Treasury Department.
Atiwa Higashi said the ministry had asked the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to pay.
So she urged pensioners to be patient with the government because everyone knew it was in financial trouble.
“We’re not intentionally stopping them. Sometimes it’s hard. It’s solvency, so when you don’t have that, it’s hard.” I have to tell you. So for the time being we should focus on the 5 outstanding cases and then discuss how we will manage the principal payments. ”
“I really appreciate where you come from. It has never been like this when coupons are ready to be paid and the government is struggling to pay them, but now we are where we are. We all know what the situation is, so let’s sit down and work it out, and I’m begging you to see the solution.
Forum members resumed picketing on Thursday, June 1, citing government nonpayment of expiry coupons.
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department plans to meet with Forum leaders on Friday to discuss how to proceed.
Pensioners, however, insist that they meet while their leaders work with the Ministry of Health.
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