Individual Bondholders’ Forum Kicks Against Oppressive Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE)

Individual Bondholders’ Forum has kicked against what it describes as the government’s oppressive Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) regime being forced down the throat of bondholders.

According to the forum, which is a voluntary organization for bondholders in Ghana with the aim of protecting the collective interest of Bondholders, the “government has shown total disregard for the contractual rights of Individual bondholders and has made no effort to structure reasonable consultations with individual bondholders.”

The forum seeks to provide legal, public advocacy, and negotiation representation for members with investments in bonds among other instruments in Ghana.

Bondholders interested in joining the forums can visit the website of the Individual Bondholders’ Forum at www.ghanaibf.com.

In a press release sighted by Ghana Education News, the IBF charged its members to take steps to protect their investments.

“Pending further consultations and engagements (including the pursuit of legal action where necessary),
we entreat as follows:

1. Direct Bondholders:
Reject and refrain from complying with the mandatory deadline imposed under the DDE program, and join the efforts of the IBF.
2. Indirect Bondholders (Investors in mutual funds, cash trusts, balance funds). Inform your fund managers not to accept the DDE.”

Below is the full Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11th Jan. 2023
INDIVIDUAL BONDHOLDERS’ FORUM (IBF) AND THE DOMESTIC DEBT EXCHANGE

The Government of Ghana (GoG) has announced that under its Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) program, individual bondholders are to submit to a “voluntary” arrangement to exchange their domestic bonds for new benchmark bonds.

This arrangement irreversibly takes away the wealth and livelihoods of direct and indirect individual bondholders whose only crime has been to trust their government. Tied to this is a mandatory deadline which compels holders to either accept the government’s offer or risk the threat of prohibitive losses.

In an unfortunate oppressive fashion, government has shown total disregard for the contractual rights of Individual bondholders and has made no effort to structure reasonable consultations with individual bondholders.

In the process, we have been presented with painfully stark, impoverishing and unsustainable choices – a situation deeply troubling and wholly untenable. This is only possible because of the absence of effective representation and the perceived ease of oppressing a dispersed section of investors into submission.

The Individual Bondholders’ Forum (IBF) is a voluntary group of individual bondholders established with defined governance structures to coordinate and defend the interests of individual bondholders in respect of the DDE program and to engage the GoG.

We provide legal, public advocacy and negotiation representation for members with investments in:
1. GoG Local Cedi Bonds
2. GoG Local USD Bonds
3. ESLA Bonds
4. Daakye Bonds
5. Ghana Eurobonds
6. Collective Investment Schemes (i.e., Mutual Funds, Cash Trusts, Balanced Funds)

We urge all qualifying individual bondholders to join our membership via our website at www.ghanaibf.com.

IMMEDIATE STEPS

Pending further consultations and engagements (including the pursuit of legal action where necessary),
we entreat as follows:

1. Direct Bondholders:
Reject and refrain from complying with the mandatory deadline imposed under the DDE program and join the efforts of the IBF.
2. Indirect Bondholders (Investors in mutual funds, cash trusts, balance funds). Inform your fund managers not to accept the DDE.

3. Government
Kindly open a channel of communication for immediate frank, transparent and sincere dialogue on the DDE with the IBF with the view to seeking an effective resolution to the developing impasse and the fast-depleting confidence in the Ghanaian economy.

The medium- to long-term prospect and outlook of the domestic investment culture in Ghana is going to be affected by this DDE initiative and we call on government to demonstrate the needed sensitivity to enable a constructive resolution in the best interest of all.

We call on labour unions to join us in this fight for the preservation of hard-earned savings invested by the Ghanaian public which also includes their members. We also look forward to partnering likeminde groups and organizations to achieve our joint goals.

#SayNotoDDE