{"id":394830,"date":"2017-06-07T19:06:04","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T19:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/"},"modified":"2017-06-07T19:06:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T19:06:04","slug":"ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<!--               \n\n<div class=\"in-ad\">\n\n\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1495043641385-0' style='height:250px; width:300px;'>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n              <\/div>\n\n --><\/p>\n<p>The Minority in Parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta&#8217;s response to issues surrounding the $2.25 billion domestic bond.<\/p>\n<p>The NDC MPs said the Minister cherry-picked the information that helped to put him in good light.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Minority leader, James Klutsey Avedzi told Evans Mensah on Joy FM\u2019s Top Story Wednesday, the Finance Minister did not address the major concerns of MPs.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/1002554\/Myjoyonline.com_InArticle_300x250 --><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\" style=\"border-style:solid; border-width:5px; height:303px; width:450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted full documentation on the participants and currency\u2026but the Minister chose to provide his own questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Finance Minister appeared before Parliament to present a statement over the contentious $2.25 billion local bond issue\u00a0following a half-hour motion filed by the Minority last week. The motion was supported by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu.<\/p>\n<p>The Minority has said the manner in which the bond was issued on April 3, 2017 smacked of an attempt to manipulate it for cronies of the Finance Minister.<\/p>\n<p>The NDC MPs said they are convinced there is a &#8216;relational interest&#8217; between the Finance Minister and one of the investment companies that bought the bond \u2013 Franklyn Templeton Investment.<\/p>\n<p>They said one Trevor G. Trefgarne who was on the Board of the US investment firm may have influenced the direction of the bond issuance because of his connection with Mr Ofori-Atta. Mr Trefgarne also doubles as the Board Chairman of the Enterprise Group where Mr Ofori-Atta was also a director.<\/p>\n<p>The Minority went ahead to petition the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Clad in blue suit\u00a0with a red tie Wednesday before Parliament, the Finance Minister maintained nothing untoward was done in the issuance of the bond.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The bond in question complied in every material detail to the tenets of the rules and regulations governing securities,&#8221; he said, adding the April domestic bond was issued in cedis as directed by the law.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta also said the joint book runners &#8211; Barclays, Stanbic and SAS &#8211; government chose to issue the bond were the same people used by the previous administration. The book runners are financial institutions that announce and publish every impending bond issue to the market by providing details about the week of issue and price guidance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/6560865744379_5074500269049.jpg\" style=\"border-style:solid; border-width:5px; height:312px; width:450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Deputy Minority leader, James Avedzi<\/b><\/p>\n<p>But the Minority said the Finance Minister&#8217;s response to the many outstanding issues regarding the bond was unsatisfactory. &#8220;The Minister set his own questions,&#8221; Mr Avedzi said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the Minister mentioned the banks that were chosen to run the book but failed to name the participants of the bond. Mr Ofori-Atta had explained the ethics of the international financial market do not permit him to list the participants, but Mr Avedzi disagreed, saying Ghana is a sovereign country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These are not bonds bought by individuals but rather bought by investment companies,&#8221; he said, adding the Minority is interested in knowing the companies that participated in the bond.<\/p>\n<p>Asked by Evans Mensah whether the previous government published the names of institutions that participated in similar bonds, Mr Avedzi said, the then Finance Minister was not asked to.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/6516592987554_3219916120016.JPG\" style=\"border-style:solid; border-width:5px; height:300px; width:450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the concerns of the Minority were motivated by &#8220;mischief&#8221; and not from a genuine desire to know how the bond was issued.<\/p>\n<p>He said when the half hour motion as captured in Standing Order 49 was filed by the Minority, the NPP MPs supported it but they have realised the NDC MPs are only interested in throwing allegations around. &#8220;It is now becoming clear that the Minority has the desire to\u00a0create a\u00a0new set of issues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minority in Parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta&#8217;s response to issues surrounding the $2.25 billion domestic bond. The NDC MPs said the Minister cherry-picked the information that helped to put him in good light. Deputy Minority leader, James Klutsey Avedzi told Evans Mensah on Joy FM\u2019s Top Story Wednesday, the Finance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The Minority in Parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta&#8217;s response to issues surrounding the $2.25 billion domestic bond. The NDC MPs said the Minister cherry-picked the information that helped to put him in good light. Deputy Minority leader, James Klutsey Avedzi told Evans Mensah on Joy FM\u2019s Top Story Wednesday, the Finance [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-07T19:06:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":606,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-07T19:06:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/07\\\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"The Minority in Parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta&#8217;s response to issues surrounding the $2.25 billion domestic bond. The NDC MPs said the Minister cherry-picked the information that helped to put him in good light. Deputy Minority leader, James Klutsey Avedzi told Evans Mensah on Joy FM\u2019s Top Story Wednesday, the Finance [&hellip;]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority","datePublished":"2017-06-07T19:06:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/"},"wordCount":606,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/","name":"Ken Ofori-Atta answered his own question on $2.25bn bond submission \u2013 Minority - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG","datePublished":"2017-06-07T19:06:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/07\/ken-ofori-atta-answered-his-own-question-on-2-25bn-bond-submission-minority\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/878592571812_198460983371.JPG"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}