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“We will not act in any way to short-change workers in protecting their pensions” President Akufo-Addo has assured organized labour.

This follows a caution from the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), asking government not to go against its promise of not including pensioners in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDE).

Dr Yaw Baah speaking at the 2023 International Labour Day celebration said: “We want to once again remind government that the memorandum of understanding he signed on December 22, 2022, stated clearly that all pension funds have been exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, nothing has changed. So Mr. President please, do not touch our pension funds"

President Akufo-Addo, who was present at the celebration said: “In undertaking the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, we have been very mindful of its potential impact on the pension funds of workers. We will not act in any way to short-change workers in protecting their pensions.”

“In this regard, within global risk management practice, the options should include diversifying the portfolio of pension funds from the current 70% in government paper to real sector investments including rail, housing, urban transportation, motorways and airport as is done by other pension funds”  

“We’ve also made substantial progress on the debt exchange programme and as well as on our engagements with bilateral creditors to secure financing insurance required for the IMF programme,” he added.