Yaw Owusu Brefo, Convenor of the Individual Bondholders Forum, has criticized the political back-and-forth surrounding the recent Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) payments, insisting that the government should not expect applause for fixing a problem it created.
Speaking on ABC News Gh on Tuesday, February 18, Brefo argued that without the DDEP, the current financial distress would not have existed.
“If the NPP had not brought the DDEP, we would not have been in this situation,” he stated, adding that bond issuance was once a normal, structured process before the crisis.
He dismissed claims that the payments were a major achievement, pointing out that in any well-functioning economy, bond payments are routine.
“So I don’t know what the NPP wants to take credit for. It is just a normal, simple announcement. Ordinarily, the fixed-income market would have even communicated this information,” he said.
Brefo further criticized the notion of celebrating what he described as an obligation, stating, “You borrow someone’s money, gave the person a haircut, and now the government has found a way out and is paying—and you want us to celebrate it? I don’t get them.”
While acknowledging that bondholders are relieved to finally receive payments, Brefo emphasized that many investors had already suffered irreversible losses.
“Others sold properties, others borrowed a lot of money just because what they had put in bonds to secure those income flows became impaired,” he revealed.
He urged the government to focus on restoring long-term confidence in the financial market rather than seeking political credit for what he called a necessary step.
