Following an agreement between the two parties for the payment of unpaid coupons to forum members, the Pensioner Bondholder Forum has stopped picketing the Ministry of Finance.
However, the group warned that they will resume picketing the ministry "should the ministry renege on any of the agreed points."
The forum has stated, "We are hereby stopping our picketing as a consequence of the agreement made with the government on the payment of unpaid coupons and principal to retirees.
The ministry's willingness "to give instructions for the payment of all outstanding coupons (including those that have expired)" led to the suspension of the picketing, according to a statement dated May 13, 2023, and signed by the convener of the forum, Dr. Adu A. Antwi.
The ministry also promised, according to the statement, "to pay subsequent coupons to pensioners on due days."
Picketing
Following delays in the payment of coupons and matured principal to retirees who had been spared by the government from the domestic debt swap plan, members of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum began to picket the ministry.
In a letter dated March 30, 2023, the forum reportedly recommended to the Ministry of Finance that "pensioners be paid all of their outstanding coupons and principals by April 21, 2023, and make payments of subsequent coupons and principals as and when due and without delays."
It stated that as of March 30, 2023, "there were 13 coupons and two principals in arrears, with the earliest coupons being due first."
The letter continued, "We advised in our letter of March 30, 2023, which was copied to the Speaker of Parliament, that if the anomalous situation we were complaining about was not resolved by April 21, 2023, we would be left with no choice but to resume picketing the ministry to further press home our demand for the payment of all coupons and principals in arrears and an end to payment delays.
Meeting
The deadline was pushed out to April 28, 2023, according to the statement, "to give the ministry an additional one week to resolve the delayed payments," at a meeting with the ministry on April 14, 2023.
The sector minister, however, was alleged to have "failed to make any payment to us by April 28, 2023, so we notified the police and resumed our picketing on May 8, 2023," according to the statement.
The new agreements were struck, according to the statement, after a discussion between the group and Mohammed Amin Adam, the ministry's Minister of State, on Friday, May 12, 2023, the fifth day of the picketing.
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