Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, a former Finance Minister and Karaga MP, recently defended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s role in the smooth execution of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). In a post on Facebook on February 17, 2025, Dr. Amin clarified that the timely coupon payments under the DDEP were a result of strategic plans laid by the NPP government, which had already allocated resources to ensure that bondholders were paid before the current administration took over. Dr. Amin dismissed the claims made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the fourth coupon payment was solely a result of President John Mahama's directive. He explained that the NPP had already made provisions to meet these financial obligations before the current government came into power, adding that it was misleading to attribute the payments to the new administration’s intervention.
Dr. Amin further outlined the previous payments made under the NPP government, stressing that the party had consistently fulfilled its obligations under the DDEP. Between August 2023 and December 2024, the NPP administration had successfully paid three installments of coupons to bondholders, amounting to GH₵17.25 billion in Payment-In-Cash (PIC) and GH₵9.77 billion in Payment-In-Kind (PIK). Additionally, individual bondholders who did not tender their bonds received GH₵515.17 million in line with an agreement between the government and the Coalition of Individual Bondholders. These payments, he argued, were evidence that the NPP government had put in place sufficient financial buffers to ensure the smooth continuation of the debt exchange program.
The former Finance Minister emphasized that no payment defaults had occurred since the domestic debt restructuring, with reserves set aside in Debt Reserves Accounts to cover upcoming obligations, including the fourth coupon payment. He pointed out that the NPP government had made consistent and significant efforts to honor its financial commitments, demonstrating the careful planning that ensured the success of the DDEP. Dr. Amin also made it clear that the NPP’s approach to managing the country’s debt and financial obligations should not be downplayed or misrepresented. The fourth coupon payment, he stressed, was a continuation of a process initiated by the NPP government, not just the result of President Mahama’s directive, as some had suggested.
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